I guess I would make a lousy progressive, because I just don’t buy into their argument that, somehow, rich people are evil.

To me, it would seem that folks like Elon Musk, who both make something people want and provide jobs, have done something that’s beneficial — not only for themselves but for society as well. It would seem logical to encourage that, so there would be more of it, not penalize it, so there would be less, and everyone could be equally poor in a socialist system.

But to folks on the left — like millionaire Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) — billionaires are inherently evil, to be constantly used as a point of outrage. “They” — the billionaires — are the source of all the pain of the working class. If they have a lot and you have less, it must be because they took it somehow from you (even if that makes no sense at all).

Bernie was off on one of his typical rants on the subject on Twitter, demanding that the rich “pay their fair share” of taxes.

We must demand that the extremely wealthy pay their fair share. Period.

— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) November 13, 2021

You constantly hear this plea from leftists. While there are certainly rich people who avail themselves of legal tax provisions to pay less, rich people pay most of the income tax paid.

According to a Heritage Foundation article earlier this year:

The latest government data show that in 2018, the top 1% of income earners—those who earned more than $540,000—earned 21% of all U.S. income while paying 40% of all federal income taxes. The top 10% earned 48% of the income and paid 71% of federal income taxes….The data show tax rates decline with income, and the poorest 20% of the population pay an average tax rate of just 1%. The left-leaning Tax Policy Center found similar results.

pic.twitter.com/39OdwOJlst

— Dr. Nickarama (@nickaramaOG) November 14, 2021

It surely looks like the rich pay more than their fair share.

Elon Musk, who is worth over $285 billion, let Bernie have it with a jab.

I keep forgetting that you’re still alive

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021

Musk then followed it up with a reference to his recent sell-off of stock, which he did in part to pay tax obligations.

Want me to sell more stock, Bernie? Just say the word …

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 14, 2021

Musk previously blasted the Democratic effort to put an annual tax on billionaires’ investment gains, as part of their Build Back Better reconciliation package.

Musk has also sparred with Sanders when Bernie chastised him for spending money on space travel, saying he should “focus on Earth.”

“We are in a moment in American history where two guys — Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos — own more wealth than the bottom 40% of people in this country. That level of greed and inequality is not only immoral. It is unsustainable,” Sanders tweeted on March 18.

Musk, who also owns the aerospace company SpaceX, tweeted a couple of days later that he is using his wealth to get humanity to explore space.

I’m going to bet those two folks Bernie names also pay more in taxes than the bottom 40 percent and that’s one of the reasons Bernie’s rant is so wrong. Not to mention that he equates being rich and successful with greed. But it’s the only thing socialists like Bernie understand — to take from those who make things.

Musk has stood up, not only against such targeting, but he also stood against lockdown orders over COVID last year, which he called “fascist.” He also told his followers they should take the “red pill” — an indication that he might be rejecting the Democratic narrative.

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