Treating Wealth Like Wages

This article was provided exclusively to the New York Analysis of Policy and Government by the distinguished New York radio personality, Ted Flint.

Congressional Democrats have devised yet another way to separate Americans from their money. They’ve named their proposal, “Treat Wealth Like Wages,” (TWLW) and despite their claim that they want only to “level the playing field” by taxing rich wealth creators, the real victims could be middle income people.

The plan, the brainchild on Oregon’s Ron Wyden, the top Democrat on the Senate’s Finance Committee, would tax not only one’s income, but also any accrued wealth. Proponents, including many in the mainstream media, are singing the plan’s praises because it would increase capital gains on millionaires and billionaires and raise two trillion dollars in the process.

The plan is wrong for many reasons, not the least of which is that it would discourage investment. Why penalize those who are savvy enough to invest their savings in order to earn more money? The rich will always find a way to avoid having their wealth stolen by government. The less-well-healed have fewer options.

The proposal is getting plaudits from the usual quarters. From Liberty Planet: “The President of the Center for American Progress Action Fund describes Treat Wealth Like Wages as a “bold solution that would reduce inequality.” Professor Lily Batchelder of the NYU School of Law boasts that the additional money generated by the new taxes on the very rich could “level the playing field.”

TWLW is not about levelling the playing field, but about confiscating wealth in order to grow the state.And the middle class could ultimately be hurt the most. The concern is that government would lower the income threshold to tax, not just upper-come Americans, but upper middle and eventually, middle income earners. And as history has shown us, once a law is in place it is almost impossible to repeal it.

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Some on the right say they’re not concerned with Wyden’s proposal because the Senate and White House are controlled by republicans. But if Democrats maintain control of the House, the Senate flips and Donald Trump fails to get re-elected, there is a very real possibility the idea would eventually become law. Every one of the Democratic presidential contenders supports some form of wealth redistribution, whether it’s boosting taxes on the wealthy, providing government-subsidized healthcare and free college tuition to a segment of the population, or in or Andrew Yang’s case, backing a “universal basic income.” Under his Freedom Dividend, Yang is paying three people $1,000 a month for a year. Those payments end in December. However, at the last Democratic debate, he said he would pay 10 people a thousand dollars a month through the November election, even if he’s not in the race by then. Asked what welfare programs he’d either end or decrease funding to in order to pay for a universal basic income, Yang said “I would not touch any of our existing programs. The freedom dividend is meant as a complement.”

All this comes at a time when millions of Americans are scrambling to beef up their retirement accounts. Some baby boomers are scaling back vacations; others are downsizing their homes and eating out less often. Fox Business News recently reported that a Milwaukee-based financial services company revealed that adults 18 and over expect to work past retirement age.

Newsmax recently reported similar findings from Northwestern Mutual’s 2019 Planning and Progress Study: 46 percent of Americans expect to work past the traditional retirement age of 65. According to Fox Business News, 53 percent of those who expect to work into their retirement years say they will do so by choice, while 47 percent say they will be forced to choose that option out of necessity.Again, from FBN, 18 percent of both Baby Boomers and Generation Xer’s who responded to the survey say they plan on working past age 74.

Americans are already overburdened with taxes and fees and another onerous money grab would be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. Time to curb Leviathan’s appetite and rein in government’s habit of reaching into the pockets of wealth creators in order to expand the welfare state.

Illustration: Pixabay

Quick Analysis

Alienating Allies

President Biden has called two key U.S. allies, India and Japan, “xenophobic.” As noted in a Hill report “Biden grouped Japan and India alongside China and Russia as ‘xenophobic countries,’ claiming being less open to immigrants has caused the countries’ economies to struggle since the COVID-19 pandemic.” The comment comes at a time when both of those nations are essential to American goals in the Indo-Pacific, including countering China’s massive arms buildup, North Korea’s growing nuclear prowess, and Russia’s increased presence in the region. China now has a larger fleet than the United States, and has powerful assistance from Russia. The U.S. State Department warns that “Across much of the Indo-Pacific region, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using military and economic coercion to bully its neighbors, advance unlawful maritime claims, threaten maritime shipping lanes, and destabilize territory along the periphery of the People’s Republic of China (PRC). This predatory conduct increases the risk of miscalculation and conflict.” Alexey Muraviev, writing for the Asia Times notes that “China is not the only potentially adversarial maritime power that is flexing its muscles in the Indo-Pacific region. Russia is becoming a cause for concern, too, even though the 2023 strategic review did not mention it….Between 2022 and October 2023, for instance, it commissioned eight new warships and auxiliaries, including four nuclear-powered and conventional submarines. On December 11, two new nuclear-powered submarines formally joined the fleet, in addition to the conventional RFS Mozhaisk submarine, which entered service last month.” Biden making a comment that directly and clearly harms both U.S. interests and those of key allies is hardly surprising, as evidenced by his bizarre actions regarding Israel. The Department of Defense states that “ Japan is growing and taking leadership roles that not only benefit people in the Indo-Pacific, but the global community, said Grace Park, the director for Japan policy at the Defense Department’s Indo-Pacific Security Affairs Office said… Japan, the fourth largest economy in the world, has taken a greater security role in the past decade, Park said. Japanese leaders are reorganizing the self-defense forces in the country, fielding new military capabilities, increasing the amount spent on self-defense and more. “I believe that the United States has gained a lot from this alliance relationship,” she said. It will soon play an even more significant role. The Department of Defense reports that “The U.S., Australia and the United Kingdom, members of the AUKUS partnership, are considering cooperation with Japan on advanced capabilities projects. …Japan was considered because of its strengths and its close defense partnership with all three countries, said Deputy Pentagon Press Secretary Sabrina Singh, who held a press conference today. Japan is playing a larger role in other essential American alliances, as well. As reported in the American Military News, “The Philippines and the United States are considering the expansion of their annual “Balikatan” (shoulder-to-shoulder) military exercises carried out under the Mutual Defense Treaty between the Philippines and the United States, to include Japan. As this column has previously reported, India’s population, military strength, and strategic geographical location render it one of the world’s most important nations. The Pentagon notes that “Over the past decade, the U.S.-India defense relationship has become indispensable in promoting peace, prosperity and stability in the Asia Pacific and Indian Ocean region.” Since the start of his Administration, President Biden has consistently engaged in policies and actions that have emboldened America’s adversaries and alienating and worried allies. The consistency of his inexplicable course of action is now clear, and the U.S. citizenry deserves an immediate explanation. The highly partisan U.S. media has, until the current holdup of aid to Israel, turned a blind eye to Biden’s destructive foreign policies, allowing him to progress from one disaster to another. Illustration: Pixabay