The top marginal tax rate in the US was 90% back in the fifties. That was a happening time for American workers. Unions were strong and the future was bright.
Millionaires were folks just like you and me, except they had more money. They were rich.
Today, anyone who bought a house in Toronto back in the fifties is a millionaire. You're not seriously "rich" till your net worth stretches into the nine number zone.
If capitalism is to survive, we need to do something about the income inequality problem. Going back to a 90% marginal income tax rate would be a good first step.
That in itself would not be enough. Here's some other stuff that the vast majority in any reasonably well-functioning democracy might take a shine to.
Let's shut down the tax havens. Tough luck for Lichtenstein and Jersey and all the rest, but if enabling tax evasion is your main industry, you're not a serious country to begin with.
Let's do away with corporate share buy-backs. If your enterprise is throwing off oodles of surplus cash, invest in your workers and invest in the future, instead of rewarding the corner office nabobs who are focused primarily on their own pay packet.
Let's impose a sales tax on every stock trade, especially the ones those computer algorithms are executing thousands of times per second. That would cut that entire parasitic niche industry off at the knees.
And let's get serious about estate tax. Everybody wants to give their kids a leg up, but giving the Koch boys or a Donald Trump a billion dollar head-start doesn't bode well for the rest of us. Look around you...
All we need to do is put a cap on it. A million apiece would still give your kids a leg up, and you can contribute the rest to the betterment of society.
There's lots more we could do, but that's a good start.
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