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Comment by djbebs | Hacker News Reader

Why should they?

Because wealth generation is a positive feedback loop which creates a winner-take-all situation. And a persons starting conditions are based on luck. And roughly speaking, the relationship between money and well-being is non-linear, shaped like a log curve. So three kinds of unfair.

If you want to talk about fairness, imagine the guy who started near the bottom, made his way out of dire circumstances, climbed to the top through hard work and perserverance sacrificing his 20s and 30s (all while his friends sat around smoking weed, having families, enjoying life) and now someone like you comes along and takes ~50% of what he makes, in order to give it to those guys he knows did nothing to earn it.

If you want to talk about fairness, imagine the guy who had everything handed to him, born into a wealthy family, with parents getting him into a top-notch college despite horrible grades, and... I can't even finish, but you get the idea.

We can sit around making up what-if hypothetical tropes till the cows come home, and nothing will change. The rich at the very top just get richer.

I’m willing to bet you’re still comfortable. Especially if your effective tax rate is anywhere near that.

The point is to see past your own pile of coin and think about society as a whole. If people were up for sacrificing that second holiday house and their stupid expensive watch or whatever, so much good would come of it.

Inequality fuels crime , public services like trains suffer etc...

I think ‘giving money to free loaders’ is a bit of a straw man, as the second order effects benefit everyone. Including you. And note I’m not advocating communism.

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