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briandmyers  ·  3228 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Paul Graham: Economic Inequality

False dichotomy - no reason that both things can't be true.

Have you ever looked at income tax rates, historically? Tax rates on the very wealthy's upper income bracket have fallen hugely since the 1960's. That is money effectively extracted from the poor and given to the rich. It's not the only way the rich have gotten richer, but it IS a huge factor in the poor getting poorer.

[edit] There is also the expansion of sales taxes as a revenue stream - these taxes hit the poor much harder than they hit the rich, simply because the poor spend a larger percentage of their income.