Democrats promise a lot of “free” stuff.
Free college. Free healthcare. Free daycare. Free this. Free that.
Most sane people recognize you don’t get any of this for free. Somebody has to pay for it all. But this doesn’t phase your average Democrat.
Why not?
Because the rich will pay for it.
It seems America faces no problem that Democrats can’t fix by taxing the rich. They especially like to target people making more than $1 million a year.
But in truth, the idea that the U.S. government can pay for all of these new programs and benefits by soaking the rich belongs in the same realm as unicorns and fairy princesses.
It’s a fantasy.
I ran these numbers several years ago, but they certainly still reflect the basic reality today.
In 2009, only 236,883 tax returns in the U.S. showed an adjusted gross income over $1 million. Altogether, those rich folk made about $726.9 billion. So, let’s say the government increases their tax load by 20 percent. That would represent an additional $145 billion dollars in revenue. The U.S. spends about $10 billion a day, so the extra income raised would run the government for a grand total of about 14 more days.
OK – now let’s get really crazy…lets confiscate all of the money earned by those millionaires. That would generate enough revenue to run the government for less than 3 months.
According to the U.S. debt clock, the current federal debt stands at $18.4 trillion.
There is no money.
There is no free stuff.