The pictures of the dress that Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez wore to the Met Gala went viral. In case you haven’t seen it, the white dress had “tax the rich” written in big red letters on the back. I guess Representative Ocasio-Cortez is not aware that we are already doing that.

The following chart is from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation:

An article posted at Townhall today reports:

Despite perceptions, the highest-income strata of taxpayers are the only ones who pay a larger share of taxes than their share of income. In 2018, the top 1% of income earners made nearly 21% of all income but paid 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% earned 48% of the income and paid 71% of all federal income taxes.

On the other hand, in 2021, Americans making less than $75,000 are projected to have, on average, no tax liability after deductions and credits. The average income-tax rate for those making between $75,000 and $100,000 is expected to be 1.8%. More than 61% of Americans — around 107 million households — owed zero federal income taxes for the year 2020.

You don’t have to agree with me that (over)taxing the wealthy undermines job creation and growth, or that a tax system that relies so heavily on the fortunes of the few creates more cronyism in Washington and more volatility everywhere else. But the idea that the rich don’t pay their “fair share” is absurd.

The article at Townhall concludes:

No, progressive taxation isn’t socialism. But the policy justifications made for tax hikes these days certainly are. Ocasio-Cortez is a fraud, of course, but it’s her retrograde economic theorizing that’s the real problem. And in this age of populism, increasing numbers of Americans are accepting Marxist conceptions of American life, in which the successful are parasites and everyone else is a victim of their greed.

The reality is that no politician is going to advocate raising middle-class income taxes, despite the ever-increasing cost of government. There is only the rich to tax. Consequently, it’s become easier to pass massive expansions of the state. Everyone expects someone else to foot the bill — either future generations or their wealthier neighbors. Meanwhile, taxation has gone from being a means of funding communal needs and projects to a means of technocratic wealth reallocation. This is no way to run a country.

We need to do a better job of teaching economics in our schools.