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“We the People.” That’s the big kickoff, right? The Constitution starts out sounding all grand and democratic, but honestly, for a lot of working people, especially anyone just starting out in the real world, those words ring kinda empty. Especially when tax season rolls around. Look, most of us aren’t out here raging against taxes. We get it: schools, roads, hospitals, the whole deal. Somebody’s gotta pay for them. The real beef? The way the whole U.S. tax thing is set up. It’s like a bad game that only rich people know how to win. If we’re serious about democracy, maybe we should stop letting billionaires write the rules while the rest of us pay the price.
Taxes were supposed to be about pitching in for the common good. Instead, the system’s basically a labyrinth, packed with weird rules and loopholes that seem tailor-made to trip you up unless you’ve got an army of accountants. There are seven tax brackets that measure what percentage of money you pay based on your income: 10%, 12%, 22%, 24%, 32%, 35%, 37%. Sounds kinda reasonable, right? Except, surprise! The rich have a million ways to wiggle out. They use all the fancy tricks—loopholes, deductions, offshore stuff, and POOF their tax bill shrinks. The top 1%? According to the IRS, they’re legally dodging billions every year. Meanwhile, regular people are either overpaying or missing out on credits they never even knew existed.
Maybe that’s the point. It’s such a mess, you wonder if confusion was the plan all along. And don’t get me started on fairness.
Going back to the 1950s, the top tax rate was more than 90%. Now it’s only 37%. Did life get easier for everyone? Yeah, no. The rules just got rewritten so the rich could keep more and the rest of us could pay more. Some billionaires pay a lower rate than teachers. It’s not illegal. It’s just … policy. Legal, but totally messed up.
A few politicians are finally waking up. That new tax bill in 2024? Gave a boost to the Child Tax Credit, threw a bone to small businesses. Not bad, but honestly, it’s like putting duct tape on a sinking ship. The core problem isn’t just that taxes are confusing, it’s that the system is set up to help the rich dodge their fair share.
So, what would actually fix this mess?
First off, make it simple. Tons of other countries just send you a pre-filled tax return, check it, sign it, done. In Denmark, the government already has most of your income info from your employer, bank, etc. So around tax time, they send you a pre-filled tax return online. You log in, check the numbers, make any changes if needed (like donations or deductions), click approve, and you’re done. It can take just a few minutes and most people don’t pay an accountant or use expensive software. Why can’t we do that? Save people hours of hair-pulling and cut out all the dumb mistakes.
Next, nuke the loopholes, like “carried interest.” The article “The White House says Trump wants to close a favorite tax break of hedge fund managers” explains this complicated loophole. “The carried interest deduction allows investment managers to pay a lower capital gains tax rate on the income they receive from their work as compensation.” In other words, hedge fund bros pay less in income tax than nurses. It’s a joke—and an expensive one. Shutting that stuff down would bring in billions and maybe, just maybe, make things a little more fair.
Third, let’s actually spend our tax money where it counts: schools, healthcare, housing, clean water. Not on more tax breaks for the mega-rich or some corporate boondoggle. Imagine if your tax dollars actually made your life better instead of just padding some CEO’s bonus.
Yeah, I know,the old argument: “If you tax the rich, the economy will collapse!” Give me a break. Back in the ’50s, the rich paid way more, and the middle class was thriving. Turns out, when the wealthy chip in, everyone’s boat floats a little higher. Stronger tax system, stronger country. It’s not rocket science.
So, what now? We need to make tax codes easier to understand. Democracy means demanding a system that doesn’t just work for the 1%. American taxes are a disaster. Not just confusing, deliberately rigged. But hey, it doesn’t have to stay that way. If “We the People” means anything, it’s time to speak up. We need a tax code that’s simple, fair, honest—and actually lifts everyone up. Taxes aren’t the enemy. Rigged systems are. Time to flip the script.
Justus Robinson
East High Upper School junior
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Excellent letter & right on point.
Excellent letter with a lot of good ideas.
Here’s another game the rich play, “privatization”. They want to privatize the commons so only the rich can enjoy the things we all hold in common hopefully like clean air, clean water, good sanitation, good schools, parks, etc. One of the first agencies DOGE went after were our National Parks, and public health agencies. “We the people” is now, thanks to Citizens United, “We the rich”.
Thanks for your thoughtful ideas and clear articulation of them.
Dear adults, especially Republican adults. A high school junior gets this (dead on young man), why dont you? YOU REPUBLICANS keep enabling this behavior. Democrats have their fair share but this is especially a Republican agenda item.
In spite of the loopholes, the Top 1% of income earners pay 40% of the total income tax. If they’ve rigged the system, they’ve done a pretty poor job of it. You can check the numbers at either The Tax Foundation’s website or at the IRS Statistics of Income Bulletin (SOI Bulletin) available on the IRS website
You are one hundred percent correct Mr. Rosenberger. The reason is because they have the money! About 70% of wealth has been transferred from 90% of Americans to the richest 10% in less than fifty years. The very reason for progressive taxes. Let’s not forgot top billion-dollar corporations, some who have had a number of recent years paying zero federal taxes such as Amazon, Tesla, GE, and Walmart, to name a few. The top has always been against progressive taxes, which is when we had the best economies for the most people and yet readily dismiss that 70% of the economy is based on consumer spending. This requires a just distribution of wealth downward, to those responsible for the productivity that creates that wealth for a healthy economy. The wealthy historically advocated for a flat income tax but fight even that. An example is Social Security. In 2025 the top income for SS/Medicare tax is $176,100 at 7.65%. Someone with ten times that income, $1,761,000, will pay the same dollar amount of tax as $176,100 per year, or less than a percent and a half of income. A poor person making $20,000 per year pays 7.65% of income, SS/Medicare plus user and sales taxes. Economists in a number of democracies with a higher standard of living for 90% of their people have said that the USA has failed at both socialism AND capitalism. The Consumer spending of $900 plus current billionaires does not make a successful economy for the people.
Who “transfered” wealth to Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates or Mark Cuban? No one! They provided a service — in a business they started from scratch — and people voluntarily exchanged their money in return for the product or service they provided. In the process,customers got a better product, employees got jobs, federal, state and local governments collected tax revenue, investors in those businesses made money and yeah, the entrepreneurs made some nice money along the way. It’s a net win for everyone. There’s this myth that for one person to win, someone else has to lose. That’s nonsense. When entrepreneurs start businesses, they create wealth from scratch. It’s called economic growth.
Yes Mr. Rosenberger, there are exceptions to every rule. There are also tax subsidies to help. Amazon and Bezos are examples. Bezos early on also used an unfair tax loophole to begin his fortune as there was no state tax and sales tax on internet sales giving him an unfair advantage over brick-and-mortar businesses. Bezos has held up states and localities for billions from taxpayers when his jobs did not pay a living wage. Sears was Amazon more than a century earlier for everything. We once sorted millions of Sears catalogs in the mail and anything could be purchased, even the materials to build your own house. After a profitable year where Sears made $6 billion, they used it for stock buybacks, once illegal, to enrich top executives and shareholders. Having no reserves when a downturn resulted in a loss the next year, they went bankrupt because of their greed. I gave union orientation to many Kodak employees who lost their jobs because of the people at the top. They joined the union because they finally realized the problem with George Eastman’s paternalism is everybody dies.
Great article young Mr. Robinson. However, I wish to add we cannot change a rigged system and flip the script without political engagement. As those in power believe the Bill of Rights applies to corporations and not just to people, and money is free speech, we can have even just one billionaire spend a quarter of a billion dollars to get someone elected. They determine tax policy and all laws. I hope you and your generation will be politically engaged. Your article shows that you are already engaged and gives me hope.
Great ideas from a young mind! Keep up the good work and you’ll be a leader some day.