Why Soaking High Earners Cannot Fix Deficits

"While thousands rally for higher taxes on the wealthy, the real shock is that the top 1% already pay over 40% of America's federal income tax—so who's really footing the bill?" Today's May Day protests see tax-exempt organizations demanding the rich 'pay their fair share,' but few acknowledge the hard numbers straight from the IRS: the rich are already the backbone of federal tax revenue. Before chanting for new policies, let's do the math politicians conveniently ignore and question if these protest narratives truly reflect reality. 

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Transcript

Friday Rant And The Tax Myth

SPEAKER_01 0:07

You know what's crazy about Friday? You get to relax and or slow it down and whatever. But you know who wants to slow things down? Politicians. They just want to slow down your, you know, this whole the economy. They don't want to see it accelerate. They want to see rich people pay more, suffer more. Stuart, I'm I I'm not a rich guy at all. My income doesn't fall in the top 1% at all. Now, the crazy thing though is that there's this myth that keeps on floating around. And you and I, if you go back a number of years ago, we did an old thing on AOC when she wore that dress, the Metcala that said tax the rich. You remember? And that woman bitched and bitched about how the rich people should be paying more taxes. Meanwhile, look at her net worth. And there's this mantra that keeps going on and on and on. The only way to save the economy is to tax the rich more. Stuart, I think that's a whole lot of hog shit. But I know you have a few things to say about that, my friend.

May Day Protests And IRS Shares

How Much Is Enough Tax

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Let's start. Gold hard open. It's May Day, David. That's why I'm bringing this up. Protests are happening across America. 600 organizations holding$2 billion in combined revenue are in the streets demanding that the rich pay more taxes. Yep. Every single one of those organizations is tax exempt. You cannot make this shit up. I'm Stuart Brisgell. That's David Solomon. This is the Rant Network. Let's do the math that they refuse to do. Let's start off with the IRS. That's not Fox News assholes. That's the actual general revenue service, according to their own statistics of real income data, not CNN or MSNBC. The top 1% of Americans earn already pay 40.4% of all federal income tax. That's sourced directly from the IRS. Say it again. How much? What's the number? 40.4%. And it's one of federal income taxes sourced from the IRS income tax year 2021, which was only released in 2023. Current one's not available, so obviously I got to use the latest data. Now, of the entire bill paid, 1% of the country, 41, right? 40% of the entire bill paid by 1% of the country. And the bottom half, the bottom 50% of all earners of the country pay approximately 2.3% of all federal income tax. Also, source, IRS income 2023. So when some waves the tax the rich sign at me, right? I want you to know how much more. How much is enough? Because right now, 1% of the country is already carrying nearly half the federal tax burden. And that's not even covering what the fuck we spend. Here's a number that you that should end every single tax-a-rich conversation before it starts. The Heritage Foundation ran the math. If you're you know confiscated 100% of the income of every American earning over$1 million a year, not tax it, didn't leave a dime left that you would be able to fund the United States federal government for less than three months. That's 2023 statistics put through math, not CNN. Three months, three months, and they're broke, they've left the revenue source is gone forever, and you still have a$35 trillion debt and a$6.7 trillion spending habit. Right? Think about that. That's the problem. And that source from the national debt clock. The math doesn't work, it never worked. And if we have real world proof, not just theory, you would understand this. France tried it in 2012. Socialist president Fraser Halland slapped a 75 super tax on income over 1 million euros. The Europeans left celebrated, and the most famous actor in France, Gerard Tardu, renounced his cynicism to move to Russia, avoiding it.

unknown 4:53

Fucking idiots.

Confiscation Still Funds Three Months

France Super Tax And Capital Flight

AOC Bernie And The Scapegoat Play

SPEAKER_00 4:54

Your tax policy was so catastrophic that the man Vladimir Putin's Russia overpaying your bills, the super tax was quietly repealed in 2015. It triggered a capital fight, generated a fraction of a projected revenue. A fraction. And that's from the Wall Street Journal. But let's talk about the hypocrisy, because this is what really makes my blood boil. And David, it's about to set yours on fire. Let's talk about our very famous Alexandra Ocaso Cortes, who the whore, or no, whore, whore address, literally saying tax the rich to a party where tickets started at 35 fucking thousand dollars a plate. That was the Met Gala in 2021, David. Just to give you the date. She was surrounded by exact billionaires she wants to soak. They all smiled for the cameras on the red carpet. No one wrote a check. The dress costs more than Americans have in savings. That's not activism. That's a costume like a pig wearing lipstick. Bernie Sanders, three houses that have been running the same tax campaign since before voters, some of these voters were born. The Tax Foundation analyzed his 2024 wealth tax plan that he found would reduce the US PDP by$2.5 trillion over 10 years and kill hundreds of thousands of jobs. Yep. The three houses. Yeah. Bernie fucking Sanders, three houses. I don't know how many Americans can't afford one house. This asshole preaching to everyone has three. And let me tell you something, they're nicer than David and mine, David and my house. Combined. Here's what tax the rich actually means. It's a pressure valve, it's a way to direct economic frustrations outwards at the guy who rung above you on the ladder. So you never looked sideways at the government that's been mismanaging your money for fucking decades. The people running those 3,000 protests today don't want revenue. Don't want revenue. They want punishment. They want an actual cultural statement of working Americans. Not billionaires or hedge fund managers always end up paying the bill when government tries to make a statement into law. Always, every time, without exception. The con is always the same. The marks are always on us. David, you have watched this play out north of the border in real time. I want your take. And you know what, David? Let me give you some positions for you to ponder. Canada's Trudeau government actually pulled the trigger on a capital gain tax hike in 2024. The CD Howe Institute warned it would drive away entrepreneurs and investors. Did it? Let's be honest. Okay, do you think Canadian politicians actually learned a lesson or they're just doubling down, right? David, David, David. Most alarmed Canada's capital gain hikes were hedge fund managers, family doctors who structured their retirement savings through medical corporations. How do you explain the left-wing protesters marching Eat the Rich policy after it literally came out of the retirement savings of physicians, which are, by the way, at a deficit in Canada because they're all leaving, and there aren't an abundance of doctors in Canada. There is a diminishing amount of doctors and education there, and people just don't want to go. Here's what I want you to close on tax the rich more or a less popular political movement, and be more smart with your economic policy statement.

Canada Capital Gains And Doctor Fallout

California Washington New York Tax Waves

Spend Smarter Not Tax More

SPEAKER_01 9:22

Stuart, let's start from the very end. Okay. This is a classic political move. We screwed up in the government. We need a scapegoat. And the interesting thing about who is the scapegoat, it's gotta be the rich. It makes a lot of sense in theory. Because you've heard all over long, all billionaires do is find a way to skirt the law, the tax law, the IRS. There's gotta be no way, there's gotta be no way, Stuart, that the rich are paying their full amount. Now, let me go back to Canada because I know you love to do that. Is so in Canada, top one percent starts at$293,800 according to the last census. We're going through another census now, so that's the last one we got.$293,000 is where the top 1% starts at an average of$606,000, which by the way is down from 2022. So that's the first thing I want you to know. You know, when you're talking about ultra-wealthy people and you're making$600,000, you're fortunate. There's no doubt you're fortunate, but it's not billionaires. Now, in 2023, Stuart, the top one percent represented of 11.5% of the total income in Canada, and yet they paid out a quarter of total income taxes. Now, are you saying they're not paying their fair share? They paid twice as much of what their income is in Canada. And yes, you could say all you want, Stuart, that we they don't pay enough. But what the hell? Just listen to what I said. They represent 11.5% of the total income in Canada and pay a quarter of all taxes collected, federal and provincial income taxes, not sales taxes, not housing taxes, and certainly not GST and TVQ, federal sales tax and provincial sales tax, which is where the rest goes. So if that's the case, what's up here? Canadians are leaving in groves. The investments are actually leaving Canada. And actually, according to the Canadian government, the current Canadian government, with our little stupid prime minister, the investment is going south of the border. People are taking money out of Canada because there's just no way to get the taxing. Now, you talked about our capital gains tax here that we were nailed with. At the end of the day, that big screw up ruined a lot of people, absolutely. Now, the one thing you didn't emphasize about the doctor, Stewart, is unlike in the US, where there's no cap on billing for a doctor, there's a there is a ceiling of which a doctor can earn. There's only so many patients a doctor can earn. So, what you, when you think of an American doctor and you think of a rich person with, as you said, whatever type of wealth, that is not the reality in Canada with doctors. Yes, they make well above the average income, and many of them fall into the top 1%. But no, they're not multimillionaires. Get over that idea. Because the Canadian government, in its socialist mindset, does not believe that doctors should be in that area. So as a result, oh, and by the way, the reason they don't is because socialized medicine doesn't let doctors make the money that private medicine does. So here you are, you're saying that's tax and tax and tax and tax and tax and tax. And that continues to be the game. All of the left-leaning politics you know parties, whether in the US or in Canada, are still screaming we need to tax the rich more. Well, let's talk about that for just a second. California wants to propose a one-time five percent tax on total net worth. Now, Elon Musk is worth how many hundreds of billions of dollars, and you want to tax him one time five percent of his net worth. What do you think, Elon? If Elon was living in California, what do you think he would do? Move to Florida. Washington just enacted a 9.9% tax increase on incomes exceeding one million dollars. That's your Starbucks, your Microsoft's, your Apple's, right? Yeah, I get it. Do you know what's gonna happen to those companies? Buy Washington. Hello, Florida, and then and then there's New York, where Mamdani has decided that you know, when he ran for his for mayor, he wanted to slap a 9.9%, 9.5 property tax increase as you know, to address the New York City's budget. Now, it did you hear what I said? He wanted to address, he admitted it, there's a massive deficit, and then this week he came out and said New York City's broke, right? That's the essence of his message. Did he say anything about cutting costs? Nope. Did he say anything about smarter spending? Nope. Mamdani wants to run around like we I've used this expression before, like a teenager with a credit card with no limit. Basically, he's saying, I want to just go and spend, so I need more money. And since I am the greatest person in the world to satisfy the poor and the un you know, the the the the the the poor people and the and the uh deprived, I'm gonna go tax the rich even more. And his idea of the mansion tax is that any res he wants to put a tax on residential properties over five million dollars, especially those that don't even live in New York City, because that is where the problem lies. The problem lies with rich people in New York, the financial center of the United States is the problem. What you see consistently, ladies and gentlemen, in all of these things is that people that are proposing to tax the billionaires don't want to don't want to be budgeting smarter. That's right, they want to spend more. And on what? And that has to be the question. In Canada, Stewart, we have a list of socialized projects and programs out of the wazoo, unemployment insurance, Medicare. We have, you know, you name it, we've got it. The government does not, there's not a conservative or right-wing government, if you will, because you lefties think that all the right wing people want to get rid of all social programs, retirement programs will kill it. You know, this will kill. No, it's not happening. The problem is affordability. The problem is you can't just spend like willy-nilly. You bring in a dollar, you spend a dollar. It's not a we bring in a dollar and we spend five. Because that's what the left wants to do. The solution, Stuart, that they keep proposing is that. But here's what happens, ladies and gentlemen, when you tell billionaires you're not doing your job. And let's go back to what Stuart said just a minute ago. Where do the jobs go? Hey, Stuart, let me ask you a question. How many jobs do you think Elon Musk is responsible for? How about I don't have the number? Over 600,000 people are employed thanks to Elon Musk. That's all of his projects, that's all of his companies, from X to Twitter, dot Twitter, sorry, from X to Tesla to SpaceX and on and on. 600,000. And if tomorrow morning he decided I'm moving this to Ireland because this is there's a tax-free haven, this is the problem, Stuart. What you're doing is not creating a solution. What you're creating is just shifting the problem from the responsibility of government of smarter spending to blame the rich. Now, our prime minister had a budget passed this presented this week. Same philosophy. We want to spend more. Look at us. You know, Stuart, it's fascinating. The government is in love with taxes. The Canadian government announced this week that the deficit that they thought we're gonna have was reduced because we're smart when it comes to spending. No, Stuart, they collected more money because gas prices went up and taxes went up. That was unexpected in the budget. No one expected the price of gas to go up 25, 30 percent. And the Canadian government collected money like a like you can't imagine. And yet, they're still screaming, we need to tax the rich. Stuart, I don't understand how Democrats who love, you know, these Democrat voters, they're billionaires, are voting still for the Democrats because they just want to keep taking more money out of their pockets. To me, it makes no sense that you keep voting for these lunatics who don't know how to spend. That's the thing. If I gave if the really billionaires gave them another billion dollars, will they spend it smarter? Or will they just spend it on stupid shit? Because that seems to be the MO of the left.

SPEAKER_00 18:19

Well, you know what, David? That's it. You know why that's it? I don't have enough time to press the button because I'm gonna be taxed on that. All right, guys, David, let's wrap this sucker up.

SPEAKER_01 18:33

You know, Stuart, I'll put I'm gonna put it something out for everybody here, and we didn't debate anything because we agreed on this. It's not about taxing the rich. If you look at, if you imagine you as a homeowner, you as a business person, whatever, were told you could spend at will. That'd be cool, right? You don't have that because you go bankrupt if you do. So let's teach the government a lesson. Don't tax us more, spend it smarter. Stuart, play the music, buddy.

SPEAKER_00 19:01

There you go. All right, guys. We'll see you every Monday, Wednesday, Friday, noon, Eastern, and all those drippity droppity drips that we do. Love you, leave you. See you on Monday. Waxy, maybe not. We'll I don't know. We'll hopefully be here Monday. All right, guys. Adios.