COMMENT: Martin, your recent post makes me wonder when did I become “one of them rich people”? We have a family business, it’s no glamour job, I get dirty everyday and never considered myself financially wealthy. Every day it’s just more regulations, fees and taxes both hidden and upfront. There is little protection from the assault on business and “wealthy” people. I wonder why bother with it all but If I’m so rich how come I can’t retire? Florida limits how much our property value assessments can go up each year to “save our homes” but don’t limit how much the mileage rate can be hiked up so the gov still gets more taxes. If every form of savings and investment is attacked it’s going to be tough for anyone to get through to the other side of all this
REPLY: The problem is that they never define who the rich are. We have images that the rich are always someone who has more, but the reality it is you. Having $827,000 in assets is hardly stinking rich. It is not enough to retire at 65. You are in the top 1% with annual income of just $400,000 (see where you stand). So this is who Joe Biden called the “super rich” who we envision as Bill Gates and the bankers, who escape taxes. It is a threshold that is much lower than most would imagine.
