Bloomberg Discovers Millionaire Taxes Are Good, 50 Years Late
Bloomberg's latest dispatch marvels that Massachusetts' 'millionaire tax' netted $5.7 billion, $3 billion more than predicted, without causing a mass exodus of the wealthy. This is presented as a surprising revelation, despite decades of evidence demonstrating that high earners rarely relocate for marginal tax differences, especially when their businesses and social lives are embedded. The media's
usual scaremongering, amplified by groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) with their corporate-funded push for regressive tax policies, continually insists that any tax on extreme wealth will cause economic collapse. Apparently, basic math and social responsibility are still revolutionary concepts in some newsrooms. One might wonder why it takes a Bloomberg article, disguised
as a grudging concession, to confirm what most sane economists have argued for years: tax the rich, fund public services, and the sky doesn't fall. Perhaps it’s because the billionaires who own outlets like Bloomberg prefer their hoards undisturbed, consistently promoting narratives that serve their own bottom line, rather than the public good. The real surprise isn't the tax's success, but the
media's shock at it.