EQUITABLE TAXATION

At the time of this writing in the year 2026, America is not plagued by a shortage of wealth, nor an unproductive society. Millions of people with great entrepreneurial spirit struggle to find affordable and safe housing, health care, education, and food. The root cause is a codified barrier to widespread prosperity in America through egregious taxation gaps and tax loopholes that benefit very wealthy people while hurting everyone else. America’s urgent and politically exploitable social issues are underpinned by wealth inequality.

Imagine four Americans owning more wealth than the combined wealth of 175 million Americans, which consequently devalues the buying and selling power of each American. The simple example of a car breakdown can in one case result in the inconvenience of taking a limo to your private jet, whereas for another it can mean losing a job, falling behind on mortgage payments, or both. Contrast this reality with the purported philosophy of Elon Musk stating, “You get paid in direct proportion to the difficulty of problems you solve”. The truth is that Elon and his peers can get paid, disproportionately through tax dollar funded government grants, when they simply own or promise a solution; even when the solution is not of their making, flawed, late, or not delivered; the essence of classism.

Many Americans have annual incomes that exceed 200 times that of the average American (as reflected in publicly available individual tax return statistics). The earnings of these individuals are taxed at the same marginal tax rate as their millionaire peers who earn less than one thirtieth (1/30th) the income. Nevertheless, there are Americans of much higher net worth who have little to no salary income and pay little to no taxes, of any kind, depending primarily on their asset management strategies.

The objective of tax reform is not to slander people nor trust wealthy people to pay taxes as dictated by their own morality. Equitable tax reform involves exhibiting reverence while recognizing the risks of unchecked power. The very wealthy are sometimes referred to as the ultra wealthy, commercial elites, financial elites, or billionaires. For the purpose of promoting equitable taxation, the very wealthy are respectfully referred to as the “very wealthy class”.

Speaking in terms of US dollars and codified solutions, it is prudent to avoid referring to the very wealthy as “the billionaires” or the “billionaire class” because one day we will have trillionaires.

Aside from individual tax filings, the accumulated wealth of the very wealthy transfers from generation to generation through inheritance strategies with little to no taxation. For example, someone who inherits $2B can live off the interest at 3% with a discretionary spending limit of $60M per year without touching the principal and without wealth transfer taxation. America has thousands of billionaires.

Not all wealthy individuals go out of their way to sidestep federal taxation. However, as long as rules and loopholes go unchallenged, the practice of sidestepping federal taxation will continue. The result is systemic betrayal where most Americans are denied access to programs and services, such as universal health care, that are reliably delivered in other 1st world nations.

Major media outlets are increasingly aligned with the very wealthy. Therefore, self-preserving influences on taxation policies prevail. Instead, the public is steered toward soup of the day stories that do not pose a threat to corporate bottom lines and sensitive political agendas.

The American mainstream media does not offer a breakdown of how public moneys are collected and distributed. They seldom report on failed government audits. Among the many humanitarian crises, they have not reported how taxation reforms can infuse trillions of dollars (speaking in present day terms) into health care and education benefits for the poor and middle classes. Furthermore, members of the very wealthy class are astutely managing the narrative by buying and controlling legacy and emerging media outlets and platforms.

Many people overlook the catalysts and effects of classism because they are caught up with the overwhelming number of “breaking news” headlines, which are difficult to discern as truthful, purposeful and substantive. Sadly, the deluge to our synapses is further fueled by the “doom scrolling” phenomenon because every day there are well over 24 hours of freshly curated infotainment to consume.

Without diminishing the importance of casting a light on other forms of oppression, increased and sustained focus on the issue of classism is long overdue. Equitable taxation initiatives do not impede individual prosperity nor vilify wealth. Instead, they install essential checks and balances.

Based on today’s distribution of wealth, approximately 95% of America’s people are meaningfully impacted by all rising costs. Therefore, the issue of classism should not be taken lying down. Skyrocketing wealth inequality in the United States is real, its effects are worsening, and Americans cannot afford to doom scroll past it.

In the wake of artificial intelligence (AI), a few people have started to make rumblings about the need for new social contracts. Ideas vary significantly. For example, some people are discussing how to shorten everyone’s work week. Others think that deploying an AI robot to each American home will solve most problems. A few think that a nefarious technocracy, led by a few members of the very wealthy, is needed.

We know that in addition to creating various forms of pollution, AI promises to wipe out millions of jobs due to its ability to process data without drawing a salary. While the electricity demands of AI quickly increase, we do not know whether the millions of people who will lose their current jobs will be able to find other good paying jobs. It is also unclear to students graduating from high schools, colleges, and universities whether their degrees will translate into income to support themselves and their families.

The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 and The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) of 2025 have increased the profit margins for many businesses. However, that wealth does not appear to be trickling down to most Americans.

There is a quiet knowing among all Americans that taxation is needed to pay for things like emergency services, roads, schools, health, immigration, defense, and trade governance. During WWI and WWII taxation was much higher and Excess Profits Taxes were implemented on top of the high taxes to address profiteering and wartime conditions. The middle class thrived. However, through ongoing political campaigns and media fueled polarization, many Americans have been convinced that they must choose between the “radical left” and the “radical right”, while both major political parties prioritize very wealthy donors. Fast forward to today, noble returning veterans are seeing their benefits reduced. Furthermore, many Americans have been convinced that a handful of very wealthy individuals, who own more than 50% of America’s wealth, have the least need for the government’s life-saving services, and who benefit the most from government contracts, should be the ones to wield the knife to gut services and redirect tax dollars in the name of efficiency.

The OBBBA is particularly controversial because it includes deep cuts to social services such as Medicaid, SNAP, and federal student loan programs. The impacts on people with disabilities alone is alarming. There is no question that many people in need are hurting because of these cuts and although the cuts and the manner in which the cuts were made are a source of intense discussions, there is no dispute that the OBBBA will increase America’s deficits by more than $3.4T over the next 10 years, which is antithetical to fiscal responsibility and saddles our children and future generations with a national debt that threatens America’s currency and security.

Even without unregulated AI disruption, too many people cannot make ends meet. Tragically, we currently see that about 500,000 people are required to declare bankruptcy in America each year due to their medical costs. American hardship is of epidemic proportion and its pain has no borders. Failure to enact solutions to hardship and instability results in even more repressive policies that are costly to enforce.

Establishing new social contracts that involve equitable tax rules will usher in widespread prosperity for America’s capitalist model, while boosting the nation’s productivity in both social and economic terms that go beyond the narrow perspective of corporate profit margins and the nation’s rising and falling GDP. Social contracts involve looking at how and why we transact; not just how much. Social contracts ensure services and rules are defined and enforced to best ensure the opportunity of prosperity for all.