The Independent Review

A Short Defense of Immoderate Wealth

Canada is just one of many countries raising taxes on those of high wealth. Is this justified?

Great wealth is criticized, among other reasons, simply for being unequal, which of course it is. One reply to this is: Well, so what? Nature visits us with all the inequality one could ask for. Some are born much smarter than others, more beautiful, or of huge potential athletic ability, and so on and so on. All of these people can and usually do make their money by performing activities useful to others, charging prices that those others are willing to pay. How does this concern those of us who don’t buy their services or products—which is always most of us? I, for example, attend sporting events, whose tickets may or may not be high-priced. And yet, some people do pay well for their privileges—even, sometimes, several thousand dollars per ticket to attend, say, a tense basketball final in which someone such as Caitlin Clark is (inevitably!) prominent. That’s fine with me. Why is

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