No. One of the biggest and most destructive myths in America is that upper class folks are actually middle class. A $200,000 income puts you in the top 10% in every metro area int he country, and in the top 5% most places. That's upper class, not middle class.
This myth is particularly pernicious in the area of taxes. The top 25% minus the top 1% earns half of all income. These people need to be taxed like upper income people, not middle class people. Confiscatory taxes on the "top 1%" (or people making $10,000,000 per year, or wherever the line keeps getting moved to) can't raise sufficient revenue to fund a modern welfare state.
In the U.K. and Germany, the 40%+ tax bracket (both countries have a top bracket of 42-45%) kicks in around $60-70,000 of individual income, or about double the median income. In Sweden and Denmark, the top tax brackets kick in around 1.5x the median income. The second highest tax bracket doesn't kick in until 6-7x the median income.
In Sweden, about 15% of people pay the highest marginal tax rate. If that was the case in the U.S., the top tax bracket would kick in above $120,000 household income. That makes total sense. These people are very well off and should be subsidizing the rest of the country.
I think its important to consider that in the Nordic Model, people making more than $200k still benefit from social programs such as health care where in the US generally only the poor benefit from government assistance programs. I would be much more willing to have much higher taxes if I believed that I would benefit from the programs that they pay for.
I agree with that.
You can’t make these changes in a vacuum. A massive disruption to the status quo like you’re suggesting won’t suddenly make us Germany or Sweden. Millions of people would undoubtedly suffer, our economy could tank, and there might be huge second order effects. Always be wary of systemic changes, you can’t transplant Germany’s laws and get Germany.
Make that $40,000 per person in the household, not $120,000 per household. Family size differs greatly. If the value isn't per-person, then you make people grow up in poverty and you drive the average family size down well below the replacement size.
Just because I made 200k one year does not mean I will make the same amount next year or have earned as much a year before. Tax brackets non withstanding, it is completely illogical to group individuals into classes based in current income alone. One could be a recent refugee starting from nothing or a recent college grad with enormous student debt
This is absolutely true, especially in software where you’re more of an athlete, look at the ageism in our industry. We aren’t like doctors/lawyers making $XXXk in perpetuity and seniority guaranteeing job stability.