TAX REVOLT: A Lament for the US Tax Payer

 On the 18^th of April in ‘75

Hardly a tax was then alive.

A tiny British tax on tea

And Patriots made the British flee.

 

Today Americans meekly send,

Tax money for the rich to spend.

Loopholes and subsidies do the job,

The rich need not the people rob.

 

Where’s Robin Hood? You might well ask,

His bones are not up to the task.

Offshored dough is hard to trace,

Greed doth run the fastest race.

Your money does much honest work,

It pays for bombs and missiles, jerk.

What about health care? you might ask.

Take a swig from your handy flask. 

Health care's not for the likes of you,

For Congress, yes, for sure that's true.

You may have Medicare, for a fee,

They get all their health care free.

Please be careful what you say, 

Do not alarm the NRA. 

The army ain't the only ones, 

What's got a lot of potent guns.  

Alas! Do not in misery wallow,

Bread and circuses you can swallow.

Let’s drink a toast to celebrate,

Though Miller and Bud is all we rate.

Champagne and yachts belong to others,

Even though we all are brothers.

Someday their dough will trickle down,

And we can all then go to town.

 

With abject apologies to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

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Willie Sutton Explains Why We Should Tax the Rich

According to a much related story, a newspaper reporter once asked the renowned bank robber Willie Sutton (1901-1980) why he robbed banks. "Because that's where the money is," he is alleged to have answered. Sutton denied ever saying such a thing. It was too obvious, he claimed. 

Perhaps he didn't say that, but he did say he loved robbing banks. It gave him a tremendous thrill, he claimed. And he was very good at it. He never killed anyone. He even carried unloaded guns to make sure he didn't. [Image: Willie Sutton]

Sutton was no heroic Robin Hood, despite some attempts to romanticize his exploits. He robbed the rich, but kept the proceeds. He spent about half his life in jail, but savvy technician that he was, escaped from prison three times. He was a master of disguise and subterfuge. His nicknames included "Willie the Actor" and "Slick Willie."

Nevertheless, one can't help wishing that a man of Sutton's ability could help our world separate the filthy rich from their ill-gotten gains. Perhaps its too obvious to need saying, but defenders of obscene wealth keep pulling the wool over our eyes and dragging red herrings across our path. 

In the world today, the super rich and huge corporations are like an enormous vacuum, sucking up an astonishing percentage of global wealth. In the process, they have caused or exacerbated enormous economic, environmental,  and social problems. 

Think Exxon Mobil, Shell, and other fossil fuel giants. Think Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and their ilk. I will give a pass to Bill Gates for his well directed philanthropy, and a partial pass to the rich who urge governments to tax them more. 

Increasing taxes on the rich will not solve all our current problems. But it would help more than decreasing taxes on the rich, the default position of many countries in recent decades. 

The promises of "trickle down" economics have proved false. Much like the "opportunities" of Brexit in the UK, the benefits have not materialized, only the costs. 

Higher taxes on great wealth would also help to restore some sense of fairness in our society, a social contract that any healthy polity must possess. Our present trajectory is leading us to an apocalyptic world. 

So, the next time you meet with friends to have a drink, raise a toast to Willie Sutton and don't forget where the money is.

[[Image: Willie Sutton in 1966]

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