Tax the rich

There has been a growing chorus to tax the rich after COVID resulted in record unemployment and monetary easing resulted in ballooning wealth of some of the richest people on the planet.

Recent data on billionaire wealth shows dramatic increase in income inequality as poor people fell off the cliff, middle class became poor while the richest continue to grow richer.

Income inequality isn't a new phenomenon but has certainly seen a new high post the COVID breakout. Widespread lockdown in the backdrop of COVID scare resulted in people losing their jobs and livelihood. While their employers received monetary easing and went on to strengthen their balance sheets while cutting costs on payroll and other input costs.

Billionaire wealth somehow always increase post financial crisis and regular tax paying citizenry keeps paying for the mess. This has become a theme post the industrial revolution.

In the backdrop of such hysteria, billionaires are flying in space with their entourage doesn't paint a picture of empathy either. Normal middle class thinks these rich billionaires are looting them somehow. The system is highly skewed in their favor. While they make billions, they hardly pay any taxes while a normal salaried person ends up paying more than 30% of his/her income as tax. They somehow can't wrap their heads around this.

In US, democrats are jumping on this thought and demanding tax cuts for the normal middle class paid by taxing the rich billionaires. This has received widespread support from the masses. It is also a pullback from Trump administration's massive corporate tax cut for the businesses.

However this might play out, both sides have their arguments and entrepreneurship can't be discouraged in any country if it has to grow and prosper. Enterprises do provide jobs and drive the economy of any country. Taxing the rich businesses might drive them away into tax heavens. This would be in nobody's interest.

A middle ground needs to be found where businesses do pay their fair share of taxes without finding creative accounting methods to park funds away without paying taxes. While these taxes are used in community and infrastructure building, old age homes and pensions so everybody can have a dignified life.