Tom Purcell: Not enough rich people to tax |
There aren’t enough rich people to tax to fund what Democratic Socialists of America candidates are promising.
The millionaire next door
When the DSA says “tax the rich,” they want us to think of guys like Thurston Howell III, the “Gilligan’s Island” millionaire with the condescending upper-class accent.
They want us to think the rich have the finest clothes, homes and cars — and gobs of money that can be confiscated to fund their new government-program dreams.
But that just isn’t so.
According to “The Millionaire Next Door” by Thomas J. Stanley and William D. Danko, 80% of America’s millionaires were not born millionaires.
Most are first-generation affluent. They earned their money by providing some product or service that other people need or value enough to pay for.
We might classify some of their businesses as “dull,” say the authors: “welding contractors, auctioneers, rice farmers, owners of mobile-home parks, pest controllers, coin and stamp dealers and paving contractors.”
Most millionaires get by on an annual income that is only 7% of their total wealth. They typically saved or invested 15% to 20% of their........