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Nansen Kuo
Professor Genevieve Carminati
ENGL 102
14 April 2015
Should Being Rich Lead To Higher Taxes
As I recently got my first job, I saw that every paycheck some money was
deducted. I always wondered where did that money go. I knew that it was the taxes, but
how does our government spend our taxes? The formal definition of taxes is a sum of
money demanded by a government for its support or for specific facilities or services,
levied upon incomes, property, sales, etc. Emphasizing on the support for specific
services. I learned that taxes contribute a lot towards everyday things that not many of us
notice, such as the roads. Imagine waking up everyday and driving to work on an uneven
road. Everyone in America pays taxes. The real question is, whether a certain group of
people, the rich, should pay more taxes. Now rich is a very broad term, but for now Im
talking about the top one percent. I believe that the wealthiest one percent should pay
more taxes. There are numerous amount of benefits that the can help a vast majority of
people that could come from this increase in tax revenue. However, there are going to be
opposing views such as, how is it fair to tax a certain group of people more?
Who is rich and how well can the government actually redistribute the taxes? In
the article, Not Asking for Much: Public Opinion and Redistribution from the Rich by
David Weakliem and Robert Biggert, they discuss how peoples view who would be
considered rich. Weakliem and Biggert also examine the public opinion on redistribution
from the rich. Weakliem and Biggert reference the estate tax and how it would provide a

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useful way to evaluate opinions about redistribution away from the rich, since it falls on
only a small number of people (4). Almost 60 percent of the public opinion believed
that the 2012 federal budget should include higher taxes for families with household
incomes of 250,000 dollars and above (5). Many people have inaccurate beliefs about
their own position in the distribution of income. The main idea here is egalitarianism,
which includes people that will support redistribution, in favor of the middle class while
being unconcerned about the plight of the poor. I do believe that the taxes and
redistribution from the rich should not only help the middle class, but definitely help the
poor as well. The article is more focused on redistributing the wealth of the rich to the
middle class more than the poor, which in my opinion does not make sense. The middle
class people are able to support and live a stable life whereas the people in poverty are
barely making it through a day. I think it would be greedy to take from the rich and use it
for myself if I am already able to support and live a stable life.
Taxes are a pivotal part of our daily lives. The taxes are controlled and spent by
the government, whether its something big like the military or just small everyday things
like fixing roads. Daily Finance states, Nearly 25 percent of all income taxes go to pay
for defense (Daily Finance). Raising the taxes on the rich can help support the military,
whether its the benefits they deserve after serving or the materials they need at the
moment. The people in the military put their lives on the line and many times they come
home not ready to adjust back to normal life. We can use these taxes to help fund an
organization that can help veterans ease their way back into a normal life. Having enough
funds to support the military is crucial because without the military defending our
country, we would be in a lot of trouble. I know for myself, when I see a homeless

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veteran, it hurts me because of all they have done to protect. Being able to ensure that our
veterans are able to come home with financial stability is important especially after their
sacrifices. We are going to be able to help these veterans by paying our taxes and if the
rich were able to contribute more, the military and veterans would benefit a lot from the
tax dollars. Not only can our tax dollars go towards financial security, it can also go
towards health care for wounded soldiers. Going back to the sacrifice that these veterans
give, it is important to give them only the best health care we can provide.
Daily Finance puts health care as the second biggest resource our taxes go
towards. Health care is a crucial part of our lives. Without health care, every visit to the
doctors office would be very costly. I never realized how important health insurance was
until my parents explained to me how my medication really cost hundreds of dollars but
with health insurance, we only pay twenty dollars. Not all of us are able to obtain health
insurance. Whether it is not having a job or the employer not providing health insurance,
some people do not have access to health insurance. Being able to ensure that everyone
has health insurance is crucial in my opinion because everyone deserves to be able to
visit a good quality doctor and get treated for his or her sickness. If we were to tax the
rich more, the revenue would be able to help, and maybe even save, numerous of lives
throughout America. We currently have a program called Medicaid, and in my opinion, is
still a work in progress. If we were able to use that extra revenue from the rich paying
more taxes, I believe that the Medicaid program can help not only the low-income
people, but also the homeless people. Medicare is the health insurance for senior citizens,
65 or older. When we grow up to that age, we are going to be thankful that we have a
good health insurance system. I dont think that the money from taxing the rich more

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should go towards this as much as it should go towards the Medicaid program. Even
though the elderly is still very important, I do think the taxes from the middle class
suffices the needs to support the Medicare program.
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, poverty is the state or condition of
having little or no money, good, or means of support. In 2013, 45.3 million people, or
14.5 percent, were in poverty (feedingamerica.org). There are numerous of tax-funded
programs such as, Food Stamps, Supplemental Security Income, and Housing assistance,
to help the people in poverty. If the rich were able to help through paying more taxes,
then it can benefit and make an influence on numerous of peoples lives. In an economy
that we live in today, there are so many people that are not able to fulfill their potential
due to their lack of resources. Being able to fund these programs can help make the
homeless rate go down and make their dreams into a reality. All the people in poverty
need is a chance and that is what these programs are giving them. Making sure every one
has an opportunity to reach their American dream can be achieved by having the
wealthiest 1 percent pay more taxes. In the article, To Lift the Poor, You Cant Avoid
Taxing the Rich. by Jared Bernstein, he mentions how it is inevitable that we will have
to tax the rich more no matter what. Bernstein gives three reliable ways to help the poor,
subsidies that increase the poors economic security today, investment in their future
productivity, and targeted job opportunities at decent wages (Bernstein). These
approaches to help the poor are not free so that is when the taxes will come in. Bernstein
believes the idea to tax everyone more in order to see major changes in the system but he
also believes that taxing the rich more would be inevitable.

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Education is the sixth biggest resource that our income tax goes towards. In some
areas, public education is very prestigious but other areas may need some assistance in
their education system. Since it is a public education, it is funded by tax dollars. With the
money we could potentially receive from taxing the rich more can be invested towards
better training for the teachers and providing students with resources they need, such as
textbooks or new computers, in order to pursue their own personal success. We live in a
technological era where I think every student should be able to access a computer at
school. From personal experience, my school usually has the most updated computers,
which helps many students that cant access a computer from home. Education plays an
enormous part in our future mainly because the students are the future. We must ensure
that the students are receiving a good quality education so they can help and contribute in
the world. Education is different compared to the other resources our taxes go to because
public education is funded by the state whereas the military and poverty programs are
mainly funded by the national government. In Emily Cohns article, Even Millionaires
Think the Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes, a chart asks, what should be done to lessen the
inequality of wealth in the United States? 83 percent of the wealthy believed that
increasing educational opportunities for the less wealthy was needed in order to lessen
the inequality of wealth. This just shows how important education plays a role in your
future. Education is often correlated to personal success. It is commonly thought that the
longer you stay in school, the more successful you will be. If a high quality education
were accessible to everyone, then there would be no excuse for anyone not to succeed.
Education can help numerous students discover their true interest and unravel their

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potential to success. Overtime, this can help narrow the large income inequality and
significantly decrease the poverty rates.
I also want you to keep in mind; taxes pay off the national debt. Very
slowly. This may not benefit you as an individual but it does help our nation as a whole
and overcoming the massive debt our nation is in.
This entire essay is based off of multiple opinions, including mine, but we have
yet to see what the wealthy think about the topic. Emily Cohns article, Even
Millionaires Think the Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes, mainly focuses on the inequality
aspect of the topic. Cohn surveys millionaires and has come up with the conclusion that
they have complicated views when it comes to the wealth gap and opportunity in
America. However, the millionaires do mention that they advocate improved education,
higher taxes on the wealthy and better savings incentives for the poor and middle class
(Cohn) as important factors that would reduce the inequality. Seeing how a lot of the
wealthy also believe that they should be taxed more makes us look at the government and
wonder why has this not been accomplished yet?
Over the years the income gap has been increasing between the wealthy and the
middle class. According to Thomas Volscho and Nathan J. Kellys article, The Rise of
the Super-Rich: Power Resources, Taxes, Financial Markets, and the Dynamics of the
Top 1 Percent, 1949 to 2008, we see statistics on how the gap between the two social
classes is increasing. The income share of the super-rich in the United States has grown
rapidly since the early 1980s. This shows how we are not doing anything to help the
poor and middle class while the rich continue to get richer causing the income gap to
increase. The article concludes that the rise of the super-rich is the result of rightward-

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shifts in Congress, such as the decline of labor unions and lower tax rates on high
incomes. According to this article, there are lower tax rates on higher incomes, which
should not be the case. Why would a person earning minimum wage be paying higher tax
rates compared to someone making well over a six figure salary? Also according to the
graph provided in the article, it shows how much percentage the top one percent share of
income over the years of 1913 to 2008. The top one percent has a large percent of income
and can have a major contribution to the public if they paid more taxes.
There are oppositions for this topic. One main one would be inequality. Making a
certain group of people pay more taxes will be seen as an equality problem because even
with all the benefits we would get from the rich paying more taxes, what gives us the
right to tax them more? Many of the wealthy probably would not agree with a new tax
system that taxes them more simply because it would not be fair to them that they would
be required to pay a higher tax rate. In the article, Efficiency, Reciprocity, and Ascriptive
Equality: The Three Major Strategies Governing the Selection of Heirs in America by
Remi Clignet. This article shows another point of view on how to tax citizens. It does not
focus too much on taxing just the rich but taxing everyone more. Clignet mentions how
taxes dont just produce revenue; they are capable of restructuring how the whole
economy works (6). This article shows us a point of view that not many people have.
When we are in need of money, we will constantly look to the rich to pay more taxes.
However, this article shows a new point of view on how everyone pays more taxes, then
many improvements can be made. After a recent economic recession and an increasing
public debt, there has been lots of speculation on whether or not to increase taxes on the
wealthy. In Jordan Michael Ragusas article, Socioeconomic Stereotypes: Explaining

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Variation in Preferences for Taxing the Rich, Ragusa brings in the idea that taxing the
rich would balance the federal budget and alleviate growing income inequality (3).
Ragusa also mentions how ethical just taxing the rich would be. The author brings the
idea of fairness, social cooperation, work ethic, and economic individualism to go
against the idea of taxing the rich. This article is mainly focused towards stereotypes put
onto the rich and is an opposing view on taxing the rich more.
The income gap between the super rich and people in poverty is only growing as
days go by. Taxes play a huge role in our government and our daily lives. Just imagine
waking up every morning and driving to work on a very bumpy road. Thankfully the
majority of us do not have to go through this because taxes pay for these minor problems.
Personal success can mean a lot of things to different people, whether it is making a sixfigure salary or just being happy. With these different opinions on personal success, I
believe that everyone should be able to have the same opportunity to reach this success,
or American dream. Taxing the rich more not only increases the government funds by a
lot, but it can help numerous organizations for poverty and veterans. Public education can
also be greatly improved through the new tax system and now everyone can receive a
quality education and be able to reach their personal success. So what are we waiting for?
There are so many benefits from taxing the wealthy so lets make it happen.

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Works Cited
Bernstein, Jared. To Lift the Poor, You Cant Avoid Taxing the Rich. The New York
Times. The New York Times, 19 May 2014. Web. 10 Apr. 2015
Clignet, Remi. Efficiency, Reciprocity, And Ascriptive Equality: The Three Major
Strategies Governing The Selection Of Heirs In America. Social Science
Quarterly (University Of Texas Press) 76.2 (1995): 274-293. Academic Search
Complete. Web. 24 Mar. 2015.
Cohn, Emily. Even Millionaires Think the Rich Should Pay Higher Taxes. The
Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Hunger and Poverty Fact Sheet. Feeding America. Np., n.d. Web. 03 May 2015.
Policy Basics: Where Do Our State Tax Dollars Go? Policy Basics: Where Do Our
State Tax Dollars Go? N.p., n.d. Web. 05 May 2015.
Ragusa, Jordan Michael. Socioeconomic Stereotypes: Explaining Variation in
Preferences for Taxing the Rich. American Politics Research 43.2 (2015): 327359. Academic Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
The 10 Biggest Things Your Income Taxes Pay For DailyFinance.
Volscho, Thomas W., and Nathan J. Kelly. The Rise of the Super-Rich: Power
Resources, Taxes, Financial Markets, and the Dynamics of the Top 1 Percent,
1949 to 2008 American Sociological Review 77.5 (2012): 679-699. Academic
Search Complete. Web. 10 Apr. 2015
Weakliem, David, and Robert Biggert. Not Asking For Much: Public Opinion And
Redistribution From The Rich. Comparative Sociology12.1 (2013): 6694.

Academic Search Complete. Web. 23 Mar. 2015.