Who should pay for it? The pizza shop owner with a net income of under $50K a year after working 70+ hours a week? Increase taxes on the household making an average of $70K a year so the government can subsidize his pay while he stays in a household making over twice the average household income?
Does the pizza owner also deserve an adequate return on investment to make his risk worthwhile or should he also work for minimum wage at a larger corporation?
Why should we tax the poor? No, we should tax the rich, ramp that tax rate up to 90 percent for the highest brackets, and stop putting half our taxes to military. We'd suddenly have so much money we wouldn't know what all to spend it on.
When you “tax the rich at 90%” it disincentivizes people from working - would you risk starting a business or working extra hours for only 10 cents to the dollar?
Also, how do you classify “the rich”? People in the 90th percentile of household income? That would be approximately $130K a year.
Finally, only 15% of federal spending goes to the military. Most of our spending is already for social security, Medicare, education, retirement benefits, etc.
This is why capital gain taxes are generally different from income taxes (the previous are lower and can be offset by losses to prevent risk taking).
Social security and Medicare are funded directly via payroll taxes, they are not part of he general fund and you pay for them separately. Comparing them is like comparing medical insurance premiums or 401k savings to military spending.
Social Security and Medicare taxes have always been mixed in with regular income taxes. The government “borrows” money from the social security fund and issues the funds IOUs. There is no separate account where money is stashed away and only spent on SS and Medicare.
> When you “tax the rich at 90%” it disincentivizes people from working
It reduces the incentive to sacrifice other things for additional income once you've already reached the level at which the increased tax kicks in, yes.
So what is a “fair” amount that people should earn? I bet the people living in the Midwest would love to tax the “liberal west coast elite” living in Silicon Valley 90%. Should 90% start at $150K? $200K? Or is the definition of the “rich” “anyone who makes more than I think I will make”.