Whether or not you still think people should just volunteer to pay more if they think taxes are too low you have not addressed the essence of the situation. Namely, “Are taxes too low and should they be raised?” Why or why not?
I don't have a magic way to do that, nor am I convinced it is possible.
But I think that is the bare minimum we can agree government and regulations are for, to prevent and compensate for us hurting each other. Especially in ways that are hard for individuals to handle.
Anyone who stops for a second and thinks about it knows that if we taxed the “super rich” to the gills the end result would be an increase in government spending, not a reduction of our deficit.
That literally is what I am proposing. Things like pollution, global warming, and resource extraction should have the costs on the commons paid back to the commons. If that cost is too high for profitability, the business shouldn't exist.
Not if you're an average person giving normally priced gifts.
billionaires may well recognize that they are the beneficiaries of a rather unfair system, but they may also balk at giving back their gifts, if it means handing them on to a quite inefficient, often opaque, and quite self-interested institution
maybe a solution is to sell government positions for taxes; the wealthy buy seats in government with increased taxes.
on the surface this seem like a terrible idea, but any self-serving decisions while in government would just lead to more taxes, etc.
in any case we should move away from a system where the ultimate bragging right is how much money you accumulate.
for example, i believe the status of rich ancient romans was tied to the public works that they enabled
If you want to pay more, the fucking pay more, you are free to give the IRS more. I don’t understand why anyone, ever, would be in favor of more or higher compulsory taxes.
because some wealth from the ultra-rich can do a lot of good and has zero impact on them.
