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Why Should the Rich Have to Suffer?
Brandon Boever
University of Northern Iowa

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Imagine being one of the richest people in the United States and then all of a sudden,
poof, all your hard earned money is going back to the government for taxes. An article written by
Ben Walsh states that “The United States should be taxing the highest 1 percent of earners
‘somewhere between 85 and 90 percent’” (Walsh, 2014). At first I thought this was a joke. How
can they say the rich should be taxed more because they have more money? While reading the
article I found some interesting facts that showed the article wasn’t completely bogus, yet I also
found a couple of flaws that counter acted his strong points and stuck in my head more. With that
being said I believe that the tax rate for the rich should not be raised up so high. The money that
they have wasn’t just handed to them from inheritance. They worked just like everyone else in
the middle class has, but just ended up working harder and getting into the right field of work.
Even though Ben Walsh is a reliable author, The Huffington Post being an excellent website, the
clear message given to me in the article, and other sources researched about government taxes. I
do not agree with what he believes the U.S. should do with the tax rate for the top one percentile
of earners.
First, I am going to talk to you about the article that was posted on The Huffington Post
by Ben Walsh which really caught my eye with the title, “Economists Say We Should Tax The
Rich At 90 Percent”. Ben Walsh is a greatly known business reporter that has been in the
industry for many years. Before going to the Huffington Post as a money and finance reporter he
was working for Business Insider covering the Wall Street and Banking articles. Knowing he has
been in this field for so long, it is easy to believe that what he says in his article is factual. Even
though his article is going to be accurate doesn’t mean I am going to agree with it totally. Why
should someone that has work harder and sometimes longer for their money need to suffer with
larger tax rates? As noted by Nina Easton “most of the 1.4 million taxpayers who make up the

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top 1% gained their wealth through their own efforts rather than by inheritance” (Easton, 2012).
Also, with him being at the Huffington Post, which was established in 2005, really helps him get
his point out.
The Huffington Post is a very reliable website for current events around the world. They
have also won many awards for being one of the best websites for current news. All of these
attributes about the author and this website truly helped me believe in what he was saying. The
main point of Ben Walsh’s article is to express how the U.S. is behind in how high the tax rate
should be. His intentions are to inform you that we need to do something different about the tax
rate so it will better our well-being in the United States.
The target audience for this piece is focused on the upper rich class, but it is also intended
for the middle class as well. The message in the article is to state all the facts that he has found as
to why the tax rate should be higher. Mr. Walsh believes that the United States tax rate is lower
than it should be right now. His points acknowledge that if we increase taxes for the rich, then
our well-being will be better off in the long-run.
An item I believe Ben Walsh should have included in his article, is to describe what
would happen in the future if the taxes remained the same. With this extra information, it may
have sprung a huge amount of positive feedback. One item that was put into the article that really
stuck in my mind was how he talked about the rich not working as hard. He believes that just
because the rich are taxed more that doesn’t mean they will stop working as hard as they were
before. An example he gave was with basketball player, Lebron James. He indicated how Lebron
James knows that he has five more years of potential in the league, but that will not stop him
from working to be the best in the league or even all time. How does he know that will be true?
He has not seen the tax rate go up and all the celebrities work incredibly hard.

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The article also included a color graph showing where we are in the tax rate and where
we should be. He made sure that the graph was colorful to get his point across. The graph ws
bold and colorful to ensure that everyone who read the piece looked at the graph and had a visual
of what he is actually talking about. When I first saw the graph though it brought a huge concern
on how the jump in tax rate would be so tremendous. If the U.S. was to jump the tax rate from
where we are now to supposedly 90 percent like Walsh says I believe that it would cause huge
problems for the rich. This was a great attribute into my decision on whether or not I believed in
what he was writing about. From 1933-1983, the graph showed that the United States tax rate
was much higher than what it is right now. This was interesting because of all the activities going
on at that time period and they were still having higher tax rates than we are having right now.
The graph visually puts into perspective what the article is about and why the tax rate should be
higher.
The U.S. is trying to get the rich to may more tax dollars so that the debt will decrease
quicker. They believe that since they make more the top one percent of earners should have to
pay a lot more for their government taxes which is not fair. According to Geoff Colvin, “The top
10% of taxpayers kicked in 70% of total income tax. And the famous top 1% paid almost 40% of
all income tax” (Colvin, 2008). This talks about how the middle class got almost all of their
money back they paid to the government for taxes when they did their tax refund. But when you
look at the top one percent of earners had paid almost half the total amount of money going to
the government for taxes. If the middle class didn’t get as much per person on their tax return
that could steadily decrease the debt of the United States, but instead people want to make the
top one percent suffer because they are making more money. With the highest earners in the U.S.
already putting the most money into the governments pocket why should they have to pay even

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more? If they end up changing the tax rate for the rich, they might end up paying for all the
money going back to the government, and the middle class (top 10 percent) will get all their
money back with the tax refund.
In conclusion, Ben Walsh’s intentions are to show you why our tax rate should be higher
than what they are at right now. Although he is a reliable author, The Huffington Post being an
excellent website, the clear message given to me in the article, and other sources researched
about government taxes .The article had many facts to prove why the United States needs to raise
its tax rate to about 90 percent for the rich, but I still believe that tax rate should not be raised so
high or should stay the same. I still believe that the tax rate should only be moved up to about 60
percent. 60 percent would not be as dramatic and we can see how it goes and adjust as needed.
The U.S. can’t make such a dramatic jump in the tax rate for the rich to start off. They would
have to start slow and steadily move their way up. Even though there are many positives to
raising that rate, and there is no proof yet on negatives that could happen. How could you just
assume that everything would go perfectly fine and have a fairy tale ending?

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Colvin, G. (2008). The Tax Debate We Should Be Having. Fortune, 157(7), 34
EASTON, N. (2012). STOP BEATING UP THE RICH. Fortune, 166(5), 114-119.
Walsh, B. (2014, October 22). Economists Say We Should Tax The Rich At 90 Percent.
Retrieved October 24, 2014, from
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/10/22/economists-tax-rich_n_6024430.html