The rise of socialism and its accompanying cries for more taxes on the wealthy in the US is an indication of how the standard of education in this country has deteriorated. Students have not been taught real history as opposed to faux history (e.g. the whole “1619 Project” is full of outright false claims) and so they are not aware that socialism has failed wherever it has been tried in pluralistic countries. It survives in a few countries where their societies are highly homogenous…but even in these countries their economies are trending down and so many have already made changes to more free market economies that reduce or eliminate wealth taxes.[1] The truth is that wealth taxes do not greatly hurt the wealthy but have an enormous impact on workers because the wealthy are the investors in the businesses that hire workers. Higher taxes on the wealthy, like most idiotic government regulations on businesses tend to eliminate jobs.[2] One example of the negative impact of government regulation is the passage of California’s minimum wage law in 2023. This is also an example of how selective research shaped the reporting to support this economic boondoggle and Democratic Party policy.
One year after the California minimum wage law was passed the leftist Harvard Kennedy School reported “We find no evidence that wage increases had unintended consequences on staffing, scheduling, or wage theft.”[3] In other words, they stated the law had no impact on workers’ jobs. California Governor Gavin Newsome echoed the same message in 2026 proudly announcing “What Fox News won’t report: California’s fast food minimum wage increase helped 730K workers with ZERO job loss.”[4] In actuality, these studies neglected to disclose that the types of jobs the minimum wage law affected had been trending up until the law was passed so that fact, coupled with a more detailed assessment of jobs, revealed that after one year 3.6% of these jobs were lost.[5] To add to the negative impact of the law, independent research one year after its passage found a dramatic decline in hiring workers due to higher labor costs and a significant reduction in hours for workers.[6]
According to the Libertarian–leaning Cato Institute research, raising taxes on the wealthy will have some immediate negative consequences for the states that impose these taxes.[7]
The wealthy can and do “vote with their feet.” For example California is forecast to lose “between $3.3 billion and $5.8 billion in state income taxes every year” when billionaires leave the state for more tax-friendly states if the “Billionaire Tax Act” is passed in November. It is an amazing fact that the “top 10 percent of earners make 46 percent of US income but pay almost two-thirds of all federal taxes.”
Proponents of taxing the wealthy at high rates advance the idea that this will be an easy task to accomplish that will without fail bring in billions in tax revenue. The opposite appears to be true where this has been done. Being far from easy to accomplish, “Wealth taxes have been complex and costly to collect, and they have induced large-scale avoidance while raising relatively little revenue” because of insuperable problems of “valuation, liquidity, administrative burdens, and unfairness.”
The wealthy have the ability to shelter their income by “moving their investments to countries with lower taxes and better growth opportunities.” So, taxing the wealthy seems to really only accomplish an erosion of tax bases as well as reductions in the development and implementation of new products.
Proposals to tax the wealthy, if enacted, are certain to cause economic upheaval. Politicians like Bernie Sanders and his ilk who pander to ignorant voters are cynical manipulators of elections to stay in office. We here at I Vote My Vote encourage educated voting and we make the information available so that you can be an educated voter so as not to be hoodwinked by politicians.
References & Footnotes:
- [1] Michel, A. and Edwards, C. (2026). Failures of Wealth Taxation. Cato Institute. Retrieved from https://www.cato.org/policy-analysis/failures-wealth-taxation
- [2] Clemens, J., Edwards, O. and Meer, J. (2025). DID CALIFORNIA’S FAST FOOD MINIMUM WAGE REDUCE EMPLOYMENT? National Bureau of Economic Research. Retrieved from https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w34033/w34033.pdf
- [3] Schneider, D. & Harknett, K. (2024). Early Effects of California’s $20 Fast Food Minimum Wage: Large Wage Increases with No Effects on Hours, Scheduling, or Benefits. Harvard Kennedy School, Malcolm Weiner Center for Social Policy. Retrieved from https://shift.hks.harvard.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/ca_fastfood_MW_Final.pdf
- [4] What Fox News won’t report: California’s fast food minimum wage increase helped 730K workers with ZERO job loss. (2026). Governor Gavin Newsome. Retrieved from https://www.gov.ca.gov/2026/04/22/what-fox-news-wont-report-californias-fast-food-minimum-wage-increase-helped-730k-workers-with-zero-job-loss/
- [5] Clemens, J., Edwards, O. & Meer, J. (2025). Did California’s Fast-Food Minimum Wage Reduce Employment? Cato Institute. Retrieved from https://www.cato.org/research-briefs-economic-policy/did-californias-fast-food-minimum-wage-reduce-employment
- [6] Soergel, A. (2026). Exploring the potential impacts of California’s minimum wage for fast food workers. University of Santa Cruz. Retrieved from https://news.ucsc.edu/2026/03/exploring-impacts-california-minimum-wage-fast-food-workers/
- [7] Michel & Edwards, “Failures…”
