Successful is NOT the problem. The PROBLEM begins when the successful decide that they need MORE than just success............they decide that they need POWER - and as we ALL KNOW - POWER corrupts. SO, SINCE 1975, the US has lost its unions, its middle class, and all for the objective of placing POWER in the hands of fewer and fewer people - until today the US is fighting chaos, RUNAWAY greed, and the DISTINCT possibility of LOSING its hard fought for and successful American system of FREEDOM. Once you lose it, it never comes back......just talk to the Russians.

lower-income people are NOT LOSERS. They have fought all the wars that the US has engaged in (many started by the wealthy for greed and more government contracts). Lower income people are considered NOBLE people in most CARING societies. Try going to Finland and knocking lower income people as losers. They will NOT buy that pathetic BS.
.......Lower income people do ALL the hard, difficult jobs in EVERY country on this planet. They will NOT be called LOSERS BY ME.

Not true. See the chart in this article:

Here'''s What the Average American Pays in Federal Income Taxes | The Motley Fool

INCOME RANGE (AGI). AVERAGE TAX LIABILITY EFFECTIVE TAX RATE (% OF AGI)

$1 to $25,000 $208 1.7%

$25,000 to $50,000 $1,871 5.2%

$50,000 to $100,000. $6,251 8.7%

$100,000 to $200,000. $16,977 12.6%

$200,000 to $500,000 $55,536 19.5%

$500,000 to $1 million $173,678 25.8%

$1 million to $10 million $632,146 29%

$10 million and above $7,884,775. 26.1%

Overall average $9,118 13.9%

///Double Post...

That is a VERY impressive post!

That 18% is the MARGINAL rate, not the EFFECTIVE rate...

They actually (effectively) pay NOTHING...

OK, now it looks like some are suggesting a method to LIMIT VOTERS. Sort of sounds like a POLL TAX to me. Are we now to go BACKWARD in time about 60 years to POLL TAX? Why are the rich SO AFRAID of VOTERS that they want to ALWAYS find ways to deny VOTING. I thought that I lived in America, land of the FREE (and FREE to VOTE).

I've explained that "factoid" many times.

Yes, the "MARGINAL" tax rates were higher, but there were SOOOO may deductions that the "EFFECTIVE" rates they were paying back then were LOWER that what they pay now...

I've cited articles, links to prove this. Yet you continue to ignore the facts and post the same nonsense over and over again...

We have a progressive tax system...

https://www.taxpolicycenter.org/site...s/3.1.5.t1.png

Actually, a sales tax would APPEAR TO BE a fair tax. But, like all flat taxes it in reality punishes the lower wealth people who own almost NOTHING SO must buy clothes, food, school supply and etc. Think about what % of their small income that these necessities represent. (it is HIGH)
..........Now think about what % food and clothes mean to a rich UBER 1% ER. Food and school supplies to them represent about NOTHING as a % of their GIANT incomes.

But your beloved Scandinavian countries all have a VAT...

Sweden, Finland and Denmark all at 24-25%...

Value Added Tax Rates (VAT) By Country | Tax Foundation

Not punishing----making them pay their fair share. Again, why do some believe they deserve a share of other people's money, achievements and success just because they were born????? You want something---go out and EARN it. Instead, we've creating and entire culture of handouts. We even go out of the way to conceal this---for example EBT cards. Why---because they felt pulling out those old food stamps at the grocery checkout was "embarrassing". Good--let them be embarrassed. Maybe it would be an incentive to get off welfare. When welfare was started in the 30's as part of the "new deal", it was a social safety net to prevent starvation in the streets. You got a subsistence living, no more---a cold water flat, a ticket to the government bread and cheese line, no radio, no telephone, no luxuries. Those people would take ANY job to get off "the dole". It was a social stigma and so it should have remained. Instead, we now have 4th generation recipients. And what's worse, they expect it and believe they "deserve" it.

You say disproportionately amount. And I say compared to 1950 NOT nearly enough. In the 1950s the US leaders realized that the US government NEEDED to take a large % of the uber RICH's YEARLY SALARY so that they did NOT get TOO POWERFUL and also for the sheer fairness of giving the lower incomes a hand up by good PUBLIC schools and University system. Remember the cost of College in the 50s and 60s. Hint it was a bargain!
.....Compare that to today when Public schools are being STRANGLED to DEATH. And only the uber-rich can send their kids to college. That is the case that I present.........that the middle class has been PURPOSEFULLY decimated from 1975 to today. AND it is even an unconscious way toward future chaos and US instability. Look at our problems today. Rich people like Zuckerberg are determined by greed to SUCK the middle class DRY.

Lol, Finland? How they got in the middle of this, sigh…

Anyway, if’s it’s Communist China people desire, one may apply for citizenship. Keep killing incentive in this country and the country will soon look worse than Portland.

Public schools are flush with cash... They simply mismanage the $$$, lining their own pockets, rather than spend it on the students...

Thankfully, factual reality trumps "what you say"

They DON'T deserve it by simply being born. They deserve it because they earned RESPECT by being low level Sargents and enlisted men and women in ALL branches of the US military. I say RESPECT them. And RESPECT the low-ranking police patrolmen and women. Respect the low-paid staff of workers in every hospital in the USA. Respect the dog walkers and the UBER drivers and taxi drivers. Respect the staff in a Hospice that cleans the bed pans and deals with end-of-life problems.
.......Respect ALL the low-paid WORKERS that make America WORK and get little attention and barely survive in an economy where their protectors - the worker unions have been for all practical purposes PUT TO DEATH in today's economy. But Wall Street enTRAPanors seem to be THRIVING. And, will they be so cocky and self-assured when they get old and need their bed-pans changed by some lowly hospital WORKERS?

I'm not talking about workers---they do deserve respect. I'm talking about those who choose not to work and instead live off the government teat (ie: the rest of us). This does not include the disabled who cannot work. However, I would never define alcoholism or drug addiction as a "disability"----I could certainly find something for them to do. It does , however, specifically refer to able bodied individuals who could work, but instead choose to run scams, or deal drugs, or have 6 children by 6 different fathers then lay all day on the couch watching Oprah. Believe me, I can find work for them---they won't like it, but I'd find it.

Look up "step basis at death".

It is TRUE that NO system is perfect. So, there will be abusers of ANY system. Welfare, started in the 30s was a COMPASSIONATE method of SPREADING America's GREAT WEALTH around to all citizens. In general, success in life has MANY more variables than MERELY hard work. Yard maintenance people today work HARD, but they are NEVER likely to be economically successful. There are many other factors, not just hard work that determines economic success. Who are your parents? How is your HEALTH? What DNA have your parents given to you? What is your IQ. Motivation - some people have high motivation, others lower. Were you ABLE to afford college? We mentioned today that other than sports stars, only rich children of rich parents can afford most colleges. Do you have a teenage criminal violation? Then maybe you can't EVEN get into the military. How hard would that be to come back from..........less than 1% can probably ever do that?
......If you are successful and rich today, then you probably enjoyed MANY advantages. It is NOT just hard work that determines a person's wealth status!

Because the money is at risk and you should be rewarded for taking the risk. If it was up to me, capital gains would be taxed at 0% for all capital gains instead of the first $80K or so. Try to stay on point, I know it is difficult for you.

We all realize that TODAY in the US our most productive workforce........the aged 25 to 45 has been DECIMATED AND ARE LITERALLY DEAD because of the Fentanyl scourge and curse! many of these DEAD are white-collar CAPTAINS of industry. No wonder the unemployment figure is low. Someone needed to move upward to fill those positions vacated by the DEAD Fentanyl users. These people will NEVER get a chance to retire!
........And to retire to a place like The Village when they could, hopefully, afford a nice house and active life.
........Part of the reason for these Fentanyl deaths is the pressure on college graduates to succeed in the economy. Some try to medicate (with a deadly drug) the pressure away. That pressure is because there is NO natural middle class anymore in the US. Due to UNIONS being destroyed and colleges being too expensive for average people. These Fentanyl deaths are almost like the situation in ancient ROME when the Romans became increasingly decadent.
.......As to what is affordable, like a Village retirement life - a lot depends on the whole US economic society having a strong middle class that can make it through that age 25 to 45 period without resorting to KILLER DRUGS. A stronger middle class makes a stronger Village retirement enterprise, which contributes to a stronger America!

And therein lies the heart of the argument-----WHY should we "spread around the wealth"??? WHY should it be taken away from those that earned it and given to those who didn't??? News flash---this is America, not the old communist Soviet Union.

Now you're way off topic---but----who went around and forced fentanyl down the throats of these addicts????

"decimated the middle class"?---As you know, I absolutely hate confusing you with the facts, but.....
According to the census bureau there are 88.89 million Americans age 25-45
According to the CDC, 54,750 Americans of all ages die from fentanyl OD each year

So, even if every death was age 25-45, which it isn't, that is 0.06% of that demographic----hardly what I would call "decimated"

That's funny.

SO, my original question: How was the base wealth generated & not taxed?? So how was the dead person's wealth generated without taxation???

That is the definition of progressive.

Why spread the wealth ? Maybe because we all weren't dealt the same hand.

What a crock. I grew up in poverty. Parents couldn’t afford to send me to college so I joined the military. Went to night school on base to earn an associates degree. After the military I went to work for a company that offered tuition assistance and received my bachelor’s degree. Went on to own two very successful businesses which I sold for a nice profit. Retired at 57 and am living very comfortably.
Please explain to me what great hand I was dealt.

Did you spend half your teenage years in an iron lung ? Did you have to work to support your parents ? Did you have to raise your siblings ? Did you have to flee your home with nothing but the clothes on your back ? Do you have scares from being abused ? The list goes on ! Yea tell me about that bad hand you were dealt. I say you were dealt a mediocre hand but played it well.

no kidding. So what?????

Unfortunately, you reposting it is the only way he'll see my posts.

He seems to have me on his ignore list...

Either that, or he's completely given up arguing the facts I throw at him, by answering with more nonsense... Which is doubtful, since it never stopped him in the past...

Such is life. Sounds like you want equity of outcome, rather than equality of opportunity...

Are you white? did you have a good public school education growing up? Did you have two parents who loved you and were good role models? Did you have food on your table growing up? Did you have good health?

If you don't "spread around the wealth" then practically by definition the wealth of a country ends up in the hands of FEWER AND FEWER PEOPLE until ultimately you do have a fascist system like the Soviet Union or Russia today. Spreading the wealth around is actually the American way to freedom from the fascist dictators!

1st ever decrease in a demographic group in America. It is historic. There will be fewer white-collar retirees available to relocate to retirement areas like the Villages in the FUTURE.

Because society needs to be compassionate and the best way to do that is to have a large, strong middle class which we are lacking today and it started about 1975. And if we don't self-correct the US experiment will end in chaos and fascism.

I was wrong-----apparently THE FACTS don't confuse, they just bounce off like water off a duck

Uh huh. And I'm still waiting for chocolate from the Easter Bunny. Welcome to Fantasyland.

I am willing to let readers and posters and even History determine just who the "quack" is.

I guess some people will never get it----the FACTS are the FACTS