Money and the Masses

The proposed constitutional amendment which would limit the federal income tax to 25% (as opposed to the present high of 87%) will not only vastly improve this nation's economic stratification, if adopted, but it will do wonders for American culture.

In financial terms, the reduced tax-bite will once again allow us amass fortunes (we assume it will be "us" rather than "those"). But the main and most beneficial aspect of the amendment is that it will give American society what it has never possessed, or at least has never had a sufficient number of--a peasantry. For if the rich don't pay graduated taxes, the masses will have to pay more, and that should not only push down the rising middle classes, but will certainly so lower the lower class that it will actually become quaint.

This is not to advocate the 25% limit for snob-appeal, just think of what it will do for American literature when it creates a vast new mythology of rustics, beggars, and the like. There should be a sensible increase in suffering along with poverty, so that artists will be blossoming in the newly created misery.

Just one little amendment is all that stands between "us" and a peasantry. Just a few more states to vote for the amendment and America will not only lose money, but gain a cultural heritage.