Taxing the Rich Will Have No Meaningful Effect On Our Sky-High National Debt

May 25, 2023

The U.S. tax system is extremely progressive, even compared to European countries—whose governments rely on taxing the middle class.

by Veronique de Rugy Reason.com

Whenever we have a national conversation about government debt, Democrats invariably respond that spending is not the reason the debt is now nearly equal to our national GDP. The real cause of our indebtedness, they inform us, is that taxes aren’t high enough and the rich don’t pay their fair share. From increasing the marginal tax rate to more than 70 percent for higher-income earners, to taxing 100 percent of income above $1 billion, to the president’s recent debt ceiling plan, Democrats overflow with ideas about how to tax us more.

Not only do these ideas reflect incredible ignorance of economic reality, they’re also unlikely to have any meaningful effect on our debt levels and would surely slow the economy.