[Retric]

America fairly recently actually taxed high income earners and companies, so politically it’s very possible. Increasing the AMT by say 5% while raising the minimum threshold to say 500k would have vast popular support and a huge backlash from rich people. Determine who wins that fight is just another political battle.

[vmception]

but politicians play a game of semantics to accomplish nothing and appease their base

in tax contexts, "income" means about 3 different things, but to angry people it means one thing: "everything you earn that year"

the reality is that "income" is a subset of earning types, and the rich people anyone actually cares about do not earn much "income" and are therefore continually exempted from the populist fury

taxing high income earners just hurts the upper middle class and business owners

it is entertaining but disheartening to see so much energy put toward the same result over and over

[jokethrowaway]

If the majority of your earnings are income, you're likely nowhere close to the rich people that influence politicians