The rich should be taxed more than the poor.

I argue that the rich, as we have defined it here, ought to be taxed more heavily than the poor. My opponent makes the argument regarding rich people that "they shouldn't have to pay more than everyone else just because they are more successful, that is just wrong." You are implying that to be rich is to be "successful", some people are rich as a happenstance of birth. Look at someone like Paris Hilton, she was born into her money. Sure she's capitalized on the name her father has built, but that doesn't mean she's successful. She's just played on people's vain and petty propensities to cash in a few bucks. Like having people pay her to show up at their parties for example. So just because someone is rich doesn't mean they earned it. Rich people often come by their wealth either by chance or by nefarious means. At least some rich people obtain their wealth by inheritance. Through no intelligence or skill of their own, they receive a large sum of money just for being born. They didn't work hard or provide anything for society they just simply fell out of the mothers. Others have obtained it by lying and cheating and stepping on anyone they can to get to the top so to speak. A heavier tax burden on a rich individual will not effect his quality of life as significantly as it would a poorer person. If someone makes a million dollars a year and is taxed at 10 percent they only lost 100,000 dollars and still have 900,000 to live off of for one year. If a poor person that only makes 20,000 a year is taxed even at the same rate of 10 percent he has lost 2,000 dollars and only has 18,000 to live off of for the year. It is clearly more difficult for a person that nets 18,000 a year to live comfortably and safely than someone who nets 900,000. So even if the tax rate was equal percentage wise, the poorer person will still find it harder to live comfortably and safely than the richer person. Poor people have to pay the same of other kinds of taxes, excise taxes on particular goods and services, sales tax on all products, etc. The richer person is barely affected by these taxes whereas they are highly burdensome to the poorer person again making it more difficult for them to have a warm place to sleep and to eat and to support a family, etc. Thus it makes it not so wrong to tax the income of a richer person more, because they can afford all the other taxes poorer people have to pay. My opponent says "it's just wrong" to tax rich people more than poor people. Is it not also immoral for some to have 3 houses while some to live on the streets and have to scrounge for food? Is it not immoral for someone to be so well fed they purposely puke up their food for vain body image maintenance purposes while just down the street someone has to dig through a dumpster just to survive? Many rich people make money while providing nothing of use or value to society. They manage hedge funds for other rich people or gamble on futures or derivatives and other financial instruments. They buy, sell, and trade money or stocks in companies etc. These things are very lucrative yet provide virtually nothing of tangible value for society at all. They aren't manufacturing products or providing services, they are simply playing ponzi style money schemes. Many rich people are in the banking system. They use the average Joe's money he deposits for safe keeping, to loan it out to other average Joe's, at interest. Thus making money off other less fortunate people's savings. This is called fractional reserve banking. Many rich people use their wealth and power to lobby the government to get rules in place that benefit their industries or businesses. This takes the form of subsidization, government contracts, tax breaks, rules that reduce supply, rules that reduce competition for large businesses that are established rendering it virtually impossible for others to start a business in that industry and compete with them, and on and on. If a "rich" person obtains their wealth through this flavor of manipulation is it so terribly wrong to tax their "success"? In summation, not all rich people come by their money via hard work or skill or innovation. Many of them come by it by inheritance or shady nefarious dealings. To rise to the rank of "rich" one must step on a lot of other people's heads to get there. For these reasons and more rich people ought to be taxed more than poor people.