Warren’s Wealth Tax Is Unethical
Why, you may ask? Results, or rather, consequences, it seems:
If Senator Warren’s wealth tax had been in effect since 1982, Warren Buffett’s 2018 net worth would have been $14.5 billion, rather than the $88.3 billion it actually was. Jeff Bezos would have had about one-third of his current wealth. Bill Gates’s wealth would have been 81 percent less.
Sound public policy requires balancing competing goods. Senator Warren’s proposed wealth tax would fail to achieve appropriate balance in several important ways. It would not balance the moral obligation of the rich to pay more with the need to avoid reducing the rich to piggybanks for the rest of society. Its purpose of “safeguarding democracy” against the threat of plutocracy is both wildly overblown and inappropriate. Its extreme effects are not even remotely connected to the scale of the problem she seeks to address.
Unethical? When you have $14.5 billion instead of $88.3 billion? Until recently Jeff Bezos was the richest man in the world. Is one third less of that such a tragedy? Bill Gates, famously, would be down to only $8 billion, by his own estimate.
The expanding gap between rich and poor is not only widening the gulf in incomes and wealth in America. It is helping the rich lead longer lives, while cutting short the lives of those who are struggling, according to a study released this week by the Government Accountability Office.
Almost three-quarters of rich Americans who were in their 50s and 60s in 1992 were still alive in 2014. Just over half of poor Americans in their 50s and 60s in 1992 made it to 2014.
“It’s not only that rich people are living longer but some people’s life expectancy is actually shrinking compared to their parents, for some groups of people,” said Kathleen Romig, a senior policy analyst at the liberal Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
"The top 10% of the wealth distribution—the purple and green areas together—hold a large and growing share of U.S. aggregate wealth, while the bottom half (the thin red area) hold a barely visible share," Fed economists write in a paper outlining the new data set on inequality, which is more timely than exisiting statistics.
"The increase in the wealth share of the top 10% came at the expense of households in the 50th to 90th percentiles of the wealth distribution," the paper said.
Their share dropped to 29% from over the same period. The bottom 50% saw essentially zero net gains in wealth over those 30 years, driving their already meager share of total wealth down to just 1% from 4%.
Jeff Bezos could lose 81% of his wealth and still be rich beyond the dreams of avarice. Would that be unethical, though? Would that be extreme? How many Americans are going to die of poverty so Mr. Gates can be sure his vast wealth is spent by his foundation as he wishes, and a large portion of it is not taken from him too soon? How much will he pay to be sure those poor have the decency to die far from his doors and his sight? What is ethical about the top 10% gaining their wealth at the expense of the 50th to 90th percentiles? What is ethical about driving the share of wealth of the bottom 50% (50%!) down to 1%? Clearly Mr. Strain and I have different understandings of "unethical" and "extreme." This is where my understanding is rooted:
So (John) would say to the crowds that came out to be baptized by him, "You spawn of Satan! Who warned you to flee from the impending doom? Well then, start bearing fruits suitable for a change of heart, and don't even start saying to yourselves, 'We have Abraham as our father'. Let me tell you, God can raise up children for Abraham right out of these rocks. Even now the ax is aimed at the root root of the trees. So every tree not producing choice fruit gets cut down and tossed into the fire."
The crowds would ask him, "So what should we do?"
And he would answer them, "Whoever has two shirts should share with someone who has none; whoever has food should do the same." Toll collectors also came to be baptized, and they would ask him, "Teacher, what should we do?" He told them, "Charge nothing above the official rates." Soldiers also asked him, "And what about us?" And he said to them, "No more shakedowns! No more frame-ups either! And be satisfied with your pay." (Luke 3: 7-14, SV)
Jesus said to him, "If you wish to be perfect, make your move, sell your belongings and give (the proceeds) to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven. And then come, follow me!"
When the young man heard this advice, he went away dejected since he possessed a fortune.
Jesus said to his disciples, "I swear to you, it is very difficult for the rich to enter Heaven's domain. And again I tell you, it's easier for a camel to squeeze through a needle's eye, than for a wealthy person to get into God's domain."
When the disciples heard this, they were quite perplexed and said, "Well, then, who can be saved?"
Jesus looked them in the eye and said to them, "For mortals this is impossible; for God, everything's possible."
In response Peter said to him, "Look at us, we left everything to follow you! What do we get out of it?"
Jesus told them, "I swear to you, you who have followed me, when the son of Adam is seated on his throne of glory in the renewal (of creation), you also will be seated on twelve thrones and sit in judgment on the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left homes of brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or farms, on my account, will receive a hundred times as much and inherit eternal life. Many of the first will be last, and of the last many will be first."
Matthew 19: 21-30, SV
“Come for water, all who are thirsty;
Though you have no money, come, buy grain and eat;
Come, buy wine and milk,
Not for money, not for a price.
Why spend your money for what is not food,
Your earnings on what fails to satisfy?
Listen to me and you will fare well,
You will enjoy the fat of the land.
Come to me and listen to my words,
Hear me and you will have life:
I shall make an everlasting covenant with you
To love you faithfully as I have loved David.
I appointed him a witness to peoples,
And you in turn will summon nations you do not know,
And nations that do not know you will hasten to you,
Because the Lord your God, Israel’s Holy One, has made you glorious.—Isaiah 55:1-5 (REB)
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
Which made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: w hich keepeth truth forever:
Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungery. The Lord looseth the prisoners:
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:
The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow; but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
The Lord shall reign forever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.
After a while the stream dried up, for there had been no rain in the land. Then the word of the Lord came to him: “Go now to Zarephath, a village of Sidon, and stay there; I have commanded a widow there to feed you.’ He went off to Zarephath, and when he reached the entrance to the village, he saw a widow gathering sticks. He called to her, ‘Please bring me a little water in a pitcher to drink.’ As she went to fetch it, he called after her, ‘Bring me, please, a piece of bread as well.’ But she answered, “As the Lord your God lives, I have no food baked, only a handful of flour in a jar and a little oil in a flask. I am just gathering two or three sticks to go and cook it for my son and myself before we die.’ ‘Have no fear,’ Elijah said, ‘go and do as you have said. But first make me a small cake from what you have and bring it out to me, and after that make something for your son and yourself. For this is the word of the Lord the God of Israel: The jar of flour will not give out, nor the flask of oil fail, until the Lord sends rain on the land.’ She went and did as Elijah had said, and there was food for him and for her family for a long time. The jar of flour did not give out, nor did the flask of oil, as the word of the Lord foretold through Elijah. 1 Kings 17:7-16 (REB)
Or again, is there any woman with ten silver coins, who if she loses one, wouldn’t light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she invites her friends and neighbors over and says ‘Celebrate with me, because I have found the silver coin I had lost.’ Luke 15:8-9 (SV)
Is there any one of you who owns a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, who wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that got lost until he finds it? And when he finds it, he lifts it upon his shoulders, happy. Once he gets home, he invites his friends and neighbors over, and says to them, ‘Celebrate with me, because I have found my lost sheep.’ Luke 15:4-6 (SV)
A younger son requested and received his inheritance, went abroad, and wasted it all. Destitute in the midst of famine, he envied the swill of the swine he tended.
The younger son
I will return home where servants eat their fill
I will say to my father
I have sinned against you and God
I am not worthy to be your son
I will be your hired servant
The father saw him even before he reached the house, ran out, embraced, and kissed him.
The younger son
“I have sinned against you and God
I am not worthy to be your son”
The father
“Bring robes, and shoes, and a ring
Prepare a great feast
My lost son is found, my dead son is back.”
The elder son returned at evening form working in the fields, heard the sounds of music, and asked a servant what was happening.
The servant
“Your brother is back and your father feasts him”
He was angry, refused to enter the banquet hall, and complained when his father came out to speak with him
The elder son
“I, who have always obeyed you, have never received a feast
He, who has disgraced you, receives one now”
The father
“You are with me always and mine is yours forever
But now is the time for feasting
Your lost brother is found, your dead brother is back” (John Dominic Crossan, The Essential Jesus)
Woe to him who says,
"I shall build myself a spacious palace
with airy roof chambers and
windows set in it.
It will be paneled with cedar
and painted with vermilion."
Though your cedar is so splendid,
does that prove you a king?
Think of your father: he ate and drank,
dealt justly and fairly; all went well with him.
He upheld the cause of the lowly and poor;
then all was well.
Did not this show he knew me? says the Lord.
But your eyes and your heart are set on naught but gain, set only on the innocent blood you can shed,
on the cruel acts of tyranny you perpetrate. (Jeremiah 22: 14-17 (REB))
"The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry person; the coat hanging unused in your closet belongs to the person who needs it; the shoes rotting in your closet belong to the person with no shoes; the money which you put in the bank belongs to the poor. You do wrong to everyone you could help, but fail to help."
Basil
4th Century
"The large rooms of which you are so proud are in fact your shame. They are big enough to hold crowds--and also big enough to shut out the voices of the poor....There is your sister or brother, naked, crying! And you stand confused over the choice of an attractive floor covering."
Ambrose
4th Century
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