Thanks for leaving a note. This article was not an attempt to flesh out whether our current tax system is fair.

It isn't fair, meaning it doesn't have a high enough tax rate on the upper echelons of earners, whether that income is from labor or investments.

I touched on this in a previous comment, but the human brain can think two things at once. You and I can simultaneously agree that the poor need help, and even agree that the poor should receive help from our own paychecks, while still resenting them for paying less than half of our tax rate.

Notice I didn't say half the taxes. Half the tax rate.

Is it fair that the government takes more of the dollars you and I earn when we earn more dollars?

Yes, that's a progressive system.

Is it fair that the government takes more than twice as many dollars from us than they do the poor? Especially when those richer than us are taxed at a proportionally lower amount?

Maybe.

The dichotomy of the tax rate jumps between poor and middle class, and middle class and rich is what I was exploring.