How the Wealthy actually benefit the most from a tax increase

There is this myth that we would be picking on the richest Americans if we raise their taxes a small percent. It is not worth spending much time on the illogical statement that if we increase their taxes three to five percent they may actually quit working and creating jobs. Really, does anyone in their right mind think they will walk away from a $1,000,000 dollars in revenue just because they have to pay another $50,000 in taxes! People do not understand percentages. While $50,000 is a lot of money to many Americans it is only 5 cents per dollar. How doe loosing one nickel for every dollar they make cause them to want to give up the rest of their money. They will not walk away from their millions just to spite the rest of the country. It is important to note that most wealthy American are currently paying less nickels per dollar in taxed per dollar than the average American. It is also true that they used to be taxed more than what is being asked of them today and they did not walk away or quit their jobs.

Now let’s look at how the rich benefit most from many services the government provides.

The government maintains roads and an interstate transit system (something lacking in a large portion of the world). The poor person that does not own a car benefits little from that system, the middle class person that drives to work or on vacation benefits, but the people and companies that own fleets of trucks and need the roads to get their goods to market benefit the most.

Likewise our government employs air traffic controllers and the Federal Aviation administration to keep our skies safe. The poor, that can not afford plane tickets, only benefit to the extent planes do not fall out of the sky and land on their heads, since they own no cars or homes. Middle class people benefit because it makes it easier to take vacations and visit family and friends. Rich people and companies with private jets or the need to get their employees and goods places quickly benefit the most.
While there are several examples I will end this post with the thing the wealthy benefit most from. It is a stable government leading to stable markets. When we have large losses in the markets due to the government’s inability to get our fiscal house in order it should be clear who is hurt the most, and conversely who benefits the most. If we don’t get our fiscal house in order those who have the most to loose will loose the most.  So when the stock market falls 50% the poor loose nothing because they own nothing. The middle class losses tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars in their retirement accounts. However, the wealthy and the corporations loose millions and billions. Even if they own their own companies and to not trade on the stock market they loose a lot of money if we fall into a depression. If no one is working then no one can buy their goods, and their factories stand idle. The rich can only get richer if there are people that have money to buy their products. This is why the wealthy people have a vested interest in making sure we have a stable government and put our fiscal house in order. Asking them to pay more to save them billions in economic losses does not seem like it is asking too much.