LETTER: Tax system flawed

Published 1:30 am Saturday, May 9, 2026

Veronique de Rugy’s recent column on tax myths gets the numbers mostly right but tells only half the story.

Yes, the top 1 percent pays about 40 percent of federal income taxes. But federal income tax is only one part of what we pay. The Social Security and Medicare taxes which shrink your paycheck don’t apply to most of a billionaire’s income.

State and local sales taxes hit working families hard.

Counting every tax together, the richest 1 percent pay about 24 percent of all taxes while earning about 20 percent of all income.

Not exactly a socialist system.

There’s also a bigger problem the column ignores. The very wealthy make most of their money not from paychecks but from stocks and assets that grow in value. Under current law, that growth is never taxed unless the asset is sold; and if it passes to heirs, the tax disappears entirely.

Many billionaires pay a lower rate than their secretaries. It isn’t cheating; it’s how the system is built.

De Rugy also frames the debate as if the only alternative is confiscating wealth. No serious person proposes that. Instead, tax investment income at the same rates you and I pay.

Close the loophole letting hedge fund managers pay lower rates than teachers.

If someone dies before paying tax on their income, tax it then.

Other wealthy democracies collect 34 percent of their GDP while we collect 27 percent.

We’re not overtaxed. We’ve chosen a system that asks more of workers and less of billionaires.

Douwe Rienstra

Port Townsend