Foreword by Chuck Collins

The debate over taxing the wealthy inevitably gets bogged down in two competing worldviews or narrative stories about wealth and deservedness in the United States. The Self-Made Myth goes to the heart of that debate. On the one hand, some argue that we should not tax the wealthy because these individuals earned their wealth alone and, as such, government has no right to tax it.

But there is another view put forth in this book that begins with an understanding that no individual is an island. No one starts a business or creates wealth in a social vacuum. There are things we do together—through our tax dollars and public expenditures—that create the fertile ground for wealth creation. Without these social investments—education, ...

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