Possibly not what you mean but I very strongly believe tax rates should he a minimum where you can set your own (and displayed publicly) tax rate above a certain level for your income.
Both physically and online, as someone who grew up not poor but far far from rich i.e. I've still only been abroad from the UK twice in my (so far short) life, I am absolutely sick of rich people saying "I'd pay more tax if I could" as a throwaway gesture. I increasingly think an underlying motive of why I study fairly intensely is just to end up better than those who were born better than me.
If you really believe that, put your money where your mouth is.
What they actually mean is "I wish you made me pay more". Because they can't bring themselves to write a check to -give- it away, but -do- feel they should have to pay more. Part of that is the social aspect; why should I, as a rich person, be paying more than other people of similar wealth? But I support all of us paying more.
Saying "I wish you made me pay more" while then turning around and hire the best tax accountants to avoid paying even one cent, and lobbying, funding and grooming politicians that will block any wealth taxes, is just adding insult to injury and insulting hypocrisy.
Well, it's the same motivation, isn't it? "All my peers are doing this - I would be a sucker not to do the same". It's that feeling of being taken advantage of that they want to avoid.
Let's be clear, there are three kinds of mindsets here:
"I don't want to be taxed at all" - lots of lobbying and such to keep taxes on the rich low, and lots of loopholes.
"I think people of my bracket should be taxed higher, but I am going to avail myself of every existing loophole and itemization I can" - doesn't want to feel like a sucker, but agrees people in their bracket, themselves included, should pay more.
"I think people of my bracket should be taxed higher, and I'm going to give money away anonymously or similar to put my money where my mouth is, even if others of my bracket are not" - a unicorn.
This is very similar to saying that charities should deal with these issues (homelessness, drug additction, etc) not the government. Charities rely on donations. I strongly think that the government should be dealing with these things.
I think I should be taxed more but I also don't think that me voluntarily paying 1% more tax will change anything. However everyone playing 1% more tax will so fundamentally change everything that it's worth doing.
I don't say "I'd pay more tax if I could" I say "I should pay more tax and so should everyone else earning as much as me"
>I increasingly think an underlying motive of why I study fairly intensely is just to end up better than those who were born better than me.
You might want to consider the fact then that social mobility is generally higher in countries with higher tax rates.
