"America will never have a European-style welfare state without a VAT

The federal government has some scope to raise more money from high earners. But the idea that the main problem with the existing system that tax rates are too flat is wrong. In 2018 the lowest fifth of earners on average paid no net federal taxes at all. The top 1% paid a total rate (ie, after all deductions) of 30%, according to the Congressional Budget Office. Include state and local levies, and high earners face a marginal tax rate on each extra dollar they take home"the rate that matters for work incentives"which is middling by rich-country standards. Tax refunds for poor families are exceptionally generous. In 2019 a single parent of two children earning two-thirds of average pay faced total net labour taxes of only 10%, according to analysis by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries. In egalitarian Sweden the rate was nearly 33%."

Can a country get too rich?

"NORWAY'S TRIBUTE to Edvard Munch, Scandinavia's most famous painter, is an impressive 13-storey slab of recycled aluminium and glass built on the harbour front in Oslo. Completed in 2021 at a cost of $350m, it was even more impressively late (by a decade) and over budget (by a scream-worthy $200m). Looming above thick mist blanketing the sea on a winter's afternoon, the museum encapsulates the country that paid for it: sophisticated and so loaded that money is no object.

Norwegian oil has built an economy that is the envy of other rich countries, not to mention poor ones. GDP per person is a cool $90,000, behind only city-states, tax havens and Switzerland. Since 1991 the government has amassed a sovereign-wealth fund worth $2.2trn, or $400,000 for every one of Norway's 5.6m people. Proceeds sustain one of the world's most generous welfare states."

"Economic disparity makes socialism popular."

Rich people bitching about richer people...

"So why does your party cut taxes for the super rich and make it harder for the government to operate?"

So why does your party want to exclude most of the population from having to pay taxes?

The bottom 50% of income earners have an average tax rate of 3.73%, and cover 3.26% of the total federal income tax burden.

It seems to me that they are not paying their fair share, considering that the top 50% of income earners is paying for 96.24% of the burden.

"That one is easy. Those who support this DSA nonsense expect the rich people to pay for everything."

Yep. That's what I think to.

And at one point, one of more progressive posters on this site said they would not be in favor of expanded government programs if it meant poor people paying more in taxes. Which leads me to believe they are not so much concerned about helping the poors as much as they are harming the richies.

"Of course, billionaires would werk against it, and myopic libertarians who think that sidewalks are communism, drivers licences are fascism, and the Invisible Hand of the Market is the Holy Grail, would still be living in their manly self-built forts."

Why would the billionaires care? I mean, everyone would care, but adopting a Nordic model would affect lower income earners in the US the most.

Frankly, I'm a fan of the European model. And one of the most, if not the most successful characteristic of Norway is its Sovereign Wealth Fund, which has accumulated just around $200k for each Norwegian citizen. Mostly by investing in US companies.

Thanks, Capitalism.

"Would that even be possible? Wouldn't every state have to agree with it?"

I don't think so. Do the states have a say in federal tax policy right now? Other than through the elected representatives?