This afternoon, I read the following Bluesky post by John Iadarola of The Young Turks, who I generally agree with, but on this occasion, I vehemently disagree with him. The point is that it reminded me that in recent years, I have realized that I am center left, not firmly entrenched on the left, as I had previously thought. I realized this during the 2016 and 2020 Democratic primary elections, listening to some of Bernie Sanders’ ideas of what he’d like to do if he became president, which he ultimately failed to do.
Income over $1 billion should be taxed at 100%.
This is not remotely controversial, nor extreme.
— John Iadarola (@johniadarola.bsky.social) December 6, 2024 at 7:24 PM
First, I will address John’s skeet. I believe we need a complete overhaul of the US tax system, eliminating the tax loopholes that the wealthy take advantage of and ending tax breaks and subsidies to multi-billion dollar corporations. I want a fair and equitable system where everyone pays their share. Obviously, we have to consider the super low income, with a lower tax rate, but for most people, have a flat tax rate that everyone pays, so the more you earn, the more you contribute to the system. I don’t believe we should punish people for doing better for themselves, earning millions or even billions of dollars annually. Although John didn’t say this, I understand it will be a marginal tax, not 100% of the entire $1 billion.
One of Bernie Sanders‘ proposals I disagree with is a wealth tax. This wealth tax would tax people on their existing wealth, that has already been earned. Under Sanders’ plan, the logic is to tax a person’s wealth annually until it falls under the government’s arbitrary threshold, starting at $32 million.
Another proposal that Sanders had was free college for all. I believe that college must be accessible to all, but a means-tested system should exist. If you come from a wealthy family, why should taxpayers 100% subsidize your education? The linked page above covers student loan cancellation. First, I think we need to stop the predatory loan system. Then, if a person has already paid 125% of the original loan amount, I believe that should be forgiven; a 25% return on the loan amount is more than generous.
Don’t get me wrong; I liked a lot of Bernie’s messaging over the years, but some of what he proposed went too far into socialism. Most people believe that the wealthy and corporations need to pay more taxes to fund social programs, and we can do that without going to extremes. There has to be a good balance between capitalism and socialism. Other countries have found that balance; why can’t the US?
I have even heard people on the left claim that housing is a human right and should be free. This is absolutely absurd; yes, we need to find a solution to ever-increasing housing costs, maybe a socialized housing program where the government builds housing to rent to qualified people instead of relying on the private sector for housing, asking owners/landlords to lower their rentals’ prices. If the price is genuinely too high, the free market will dictate prices, as units will remain unleased, forcing a price drop.
US healthcare clearly needs a massive overhaul. The recent murder of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson and the lack of empathy from the masses have proven how angry the citizenry is with the current profit-driven healthcare system. The US needs socialized healthcare, where everyone pays into the system via taxation. The system is already in place for those aged 65+; it’s called Medicare, and most pay into it every paycheck, but may never see the benefit should they not make it to 65 years old.
Bernie Sanders pushed the idea of expanding Medicare to cover everyone during his presidential election campaigns and continues to do so today. Most countries have a socialized healthcare system. In my home country, the UK, we call it the NHS (National Health Service), and it is not perfect, but no one will ever walk out with a bill, unlike the US, where medical treatment can be financially ruinous.
For any of this to happen, we need to ditch Citizens United, which allows corporations and the wealthy to funnel billions of dollars into our political system. Congresspeople will say that the money does not affect how they vote, and I call bullshit. The wealthy don’t give vast amounts of cash to politicians out of the goodness of their hearts; it’s an investment, and they want a return on that investment.
Money in politics has created massive inequality in the US, shifting the tax burden from the wealthy to the middle or working class. Until this changes, nothing will ever change because, except for a few Congresspeople, our elected officials are not looking out for the interests of the average American.
I wonder how these Congresspeople get reelected term after term when most constituents know their interests are not being represented. Is it simply a case of xASSHOLEx Congressperson hating the same things as them, for example, women’s rights, non-Caucasians, the LGBTQ community, and undocumented immigrants. But, whatever the reason, they are 100% voting against their own interests.
The Republicans like to brand the Democrats as socialists or communists, and the extreme left certainly does seem to want this sort of system; I do not. I think a hybrid capitalist-socialist system is the best for everyone and can work well. I used to believe I was further left, but where the left is at the moment, I definitely consider myself to be center-left, and an independent, not aligning with any party’s ethos.
As of today I actually agree with this John Iadarola bloke, who I know nothing about other than what you have shared in your post. I assume he is referring to personal income. If there are people who have a yearly income of more than $1bn it should be taxed at 100%. So if they ‘earn’ 1.1bn then 0.1bn should be taxed at 100%. To be honest I don’t think there are many people where this would apply. For those that it does they would probably be smart enough to merely allocate that income to their business interests which would increase their ‘net worth’ and future income potential. I also agree with Iadarola where he says this isn’t extreme but it is controversial, otherwise he wouldn’t have posted it. I too would like to see a fair tax system for everyone and I do not want the state to discourage people to earn more if they can. But there should be a ceiling and for me in 2024 $1bn is a pretty high ceiling. If there is no ceiling on this sort of thing it might spiral out of control. Arguably it already has.
I doubt it would surprise you to know that I agree with everything else in your post. The wealth tax is a particularly foolish line of thought, in my opinion. Generally speaking I do agree with inheritance tax, which is completely different, but it is a means of taxing existing wealth when it transitions from 1 person to another. However this is a controversial topic in the UK at the moment because people who inherit working farms are finding themselves on the hook for an inheritance bill. Which I don’t agree with.
This is probably the longest comment in the history of your blog but the final thought I had is that another reason you are becoming more centrist might be because of the vitriol in US politics right now. I would go as far as to say there is genuine hatred which sometimes leads to getting personal. One of my favourite sayings is “I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. -Voltaire”. In principle people usually agree on almost everything, it’s just that people disagree with how best to get there.