We could THEN ELIMINATE TAXES ON THE LIVING too!
The social contract would be renewed and we would see real stability, and a far greater incentive to save. Both young people and adults would get the opportunity to go to schools that were not disintegrating, online education would also become widely available, and grant degrees, and the US would be able to train the scientists and engineers of tomorrow.
Why? Why now? Because DEMOCRACY, and indeed HUMANITY IS DOOMED WITHOUT IT.
Each time I think of the millions of Americans who are growing up without access to education, I worry. Americans are increasingly scientifically illiterate. Few have any idea how wealth is created. Americans instead, are focused on easy money, a bad long term strategy. Technology creates many good jobs, but new ways of doing things are rapidly replacing far more people in low and medium skilled jobs. Productivity rises but employment doesn't, increasingly. That leads to extreme concentration of wealth.
A two year college education is what a grammar school education was 30 years ago. In addition, even with a four year college education, most people wont be employed in twenty years, without their investing a significant amount of time in lifelong learning. (Many forward looking educators say we should spend 20-25% of our time in skills development throughout our lives) The new standard should be an MS or a PhD at least, for without that, one can't do original work. Postgrads are the new grads.. Poor is the new black, etc.
So, we need to multiply the amount we spend on education several times, and do much more with it. So, then, where would that money come from?
I think we should tax all estates and trusts over $1M at 100%. We also need a similar, huge tax on financial speculation and churning, as well as a 200% tax on any hedge investment that "bets" against your own customers by financial management firms. We could then eliminate taxes on the living while they were alive, and on their spouses. But as soon as they died- into the education fund.
Money raised would go to pay for free lifelong education for all and high quality nationalized healthcare. Otherwise, in 20-30 years, with low and medium skilled jobs (basically everything predictable or scriptable) gone for good to every conceivable form or automation globally and no education to carry us to the next level, ALMOST ALL WEALTH WILL BE INHERITED or from investments, and obscenely concentrated in a VERY few, utterly concentrated, and most Americans will be starving.
Its already beginning to be obvious that the economy is not in recovery, and never was..
A 100% tax on concentration of wealth and no taxes on the living is FAR better than the other scenario, walled communities for the few and starvation for the masses.. Isn't it?
With this approach, we will be able to reach the stars, without it, or something like it, on a global scale, we'll be unlikely to make it to the 22nd century.. Humanity will be gone. Earth will be uninhabitable. If life survives, it will be probably be fungi or bacteria..
The former middle and lower classes are being systematically stripped of everything they own and when that is done they will probably be escorted to the door, one way or another.
Millions of Americans are living overseas already for financial reasons, and an insane tax policy and antiterror legislation that makes banks not want them as customers is causing a growing number to renounce their citizenships! That is a bad sign, when a nation tries to restrict overseas travel. Can North Korea like xenophobic behavior be far behind?
Unless we want the United States to be for rich people only, and almost nobody able to be rich, this is what we must do, now, while we still have the vote. That money must then go to education and healthcare ONLY.