Republicans are balking at President Biden's call to pay for social spending programs by raising taxes on the rich, but you know what? The rich are going to be just fine.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell has said Republicans could never vote for a spending package that raise taxes, but the strongest counterargument in favor of raising taxes is the mounting fortune of the rich.
According to Bloomberg, the richest people in the world added almost $200 billion to their fortunes in just the last three months.
In the president’s first 100 days in office, against a drumbeat of calls for the rich to pay more in taxes, the 100 wealthiest Americans added a combined $195 billion to their fortunes, according to a Bloomberg analysis. [...]
The richest 100 made a further $267 billion between the 2020 election and Biden’s inauguration, amounting to a total gain of $461 billion since Nov. 4. From Donald Trump's 2017 inauguration to last fall’s election, those billionaires got about $860 billion richer.
The combined fortunes of the richest 100 Americans have reached $2.9 trillion, greater than the combined $2.5 trillion wealth of the bottom 50% of the U.S. population, according to data from the Federal Reserve.
What makes this especially staggering is that we haven't even reached the peak of a post-pandemic economy yet. Economic growth was extraordinarily high during the previous quarter of the year, but it's expected to be even higher in following quarters and the stock market is already figuratively on fire.
No one should bat an eye at raising taxes on people who are so obscenely rich they won't even notice the money is gone. These same people, who are already the richest people in the world, are going to benefit far more than everyone reading this from our economic recovery. Most of us will be fortunate to just move on with stable lives, but they have the assets and resources to increase their wealthy exponentially.
Most Americans don't have spare money to spend on investments and won't see big returns on the spending bonanza that's coming. That's why we raise taxes on people who are more fortunate. It's not out of spite or jealousy; it's to make sure everyone benefits in some way.