There's no peaceful way out of this dilemma - the ultra-rich have the money to corrupt the politicians. They get to write the rules that make them even richer. Meanwhile, democracy's mechanisms are no longer working.
No, not like that! Only people richer than me should be taxed, because I'm poor and they are uber rich.
We all have our costs of living, and how "rich" we are is relative to where we live.
I think certainly most of the bottom 90% would consider an annual income well in excess of $1M/year to be "ultra rich".