The Moral Question

The distribution of taxes paid by US income groups is not a secret and is available to anyone curious enough to look for it.

For my reader (singular intended) who thinks that the mythical rich don't pay enough taxes, it's important to understand that you're making a moral argument, not an economic one. You're saying that by the simple fact of having more money than you do, a rich woman owes a higher percent of her income to the general weal.

I try to stay away from statements of morality when talking economics but let me turn the moral question around. What moral right gives a poor or, more importantly, middle class person the right to take the property of the wealthy woman? By definition, money is a store of value and nothing more. Her couch is a store of value, her car is a store of value, her house is a store of value. Can you take the couch from her living room? Can you take the car from her driveway? By what moral right do we insist that she pay a larger percent of her income that we do?

Maybe the question answers itself but then again, maybe not.