Gonzalo Schwarz (Butler Eagle, “Billionaires fund the American Dream,” Dec. 22, 2025, Page 4) is right. The rich do pay more in taxes than the rest of us. But that’s because they own so much wealth — the top 1% owns almost more than the entire bottom 90%.

Schwarz thinks that the American Dream is to be a millionaire or a billionaire. (We shouldn’t mix up the two. If a millionaire spent $10,000 a day he would run through his million is 100 days. If a billionaire spent $10,000 a day, he would run through his billion in 274 years!)

I disagree with Schwarz. I think that the American dream is to have a decent place to live and raise your family.

Let’s raise the top marginal tax rate. Right now it is 37% (although the folks on the Forbes 400 list effectively paid a lower rate). In the 1950s and 1960s, it was 91%.

Also, let’s start auditing the wealthy like we used to. The IRS brings in more than $4 for every $1 spent auditing the top 1% of earners, and when accounting for future deterrence, that return can exceed $12 for every dollar spent.

Mary Lee Hart,

Butler