Social Status and Tax Warfare

Since the beginning everything has been a power struggle, the ones who possesses the most resources dominated over those with the lesser amount. In this day and age, money reigns over the social class and those without it are struggling against the government who controls the majority of it all.As stated by Dee Dee Myers in her article, “What Class Warfare Really Means,” “the same folks who have seen their incomes and wealth skyrocket in recent decades – would take the biggest hit.” (Myers) With this issue, UTA students are directly affected because the problem of the current financial difficulties is tied to their friends, family, and themselves. The levels of taxes cripples the middle and lower class, keeping them within their social class, and gives them no hope of further succession Here, Myers explains how the higher and lower classes are virtually unaffected, while the working top brackets of the middle class are taxed to no end.Though many say there is not any difference between classes, I believe that the middle class is treated unequally in terms of taxation versus the other class’s because the government’s inability to distribute tax equally amongst the three classes,the boundaries being the gap in income which keep one classing from rising to another, and the nation’s obliviousness in realizing the unevenly distributed money. For several decades the democratic and republican parties have been in debate over tax preference, resulting in this tax warfare. Students at UTA and virtually any other colleges are forcibly introduced into the world of economy as we take are big leap into debt and taxation. As the majority falls into the middle class due to their loans, students are herded into an unfairly taxed bracket that they will possibly spend the rest of their lives in. In Dee Dee Myers’s essay she lays out the facts that states, “The 400 Americans with the highest adjusted gross income saw their effective tax rates plummet from 30 percent” (Myers) and that, “the bottom 40 percent of earners would be virtually unaffected.” (Myers) As explained, you can tell she is pointing out how the high and low class receives the tax break while the middle class is left in the ditch with taxes to pay. Students would find this important because they can never be accurate in determining which bracket of the economy they will fall into. “They expect to have their own shot at getting rich. But increasingly, they are seeing that the game is rigged.” (Myers) I, like countless other students, began to realize this as I journeyed into adulthood and discovered that success into the “good life” of high income will be limited as long as the government restrains us from growth.
In relevance to that statement, a tremendous gap between those of low class incomes and those of the high class is clearly stated, “the wealthiest percentile has seen its income grow by a robust 17 percent, while the middle class has seen its real income fall.” (Norton) Though in different articles, similar thoughts are shared as they state unbelievably informative facts stating the gap between the rich and poor. Having this large gap between classes, one can only be left with the belief that the lower and middle class have no hope to gain any possibilities of greater success.Though many still believe that if they persevere through college and earn their degree, they will be able to jump into the high class and make hundreds of thousands of dollars, but in reality many will realize the difficulties, “More Americans than twenty years ago believe it possible to start out poor, work hard, and become rich.” (Scott and Leonhardt) as stated in Scott and Leonhardt’s essay, it seems that they are arguing that the lower and middle class are losing hope in rising to higher classes.
With this all said the main issue can be seen as America’s obliviousness over the topic as a whole. A professor from Harvard named Michael Norton discussed in an interview over how Americans has unnoticed or underestimates “what the actual level of wealth inequality is in the United States right now.” (Norton) In Scott and Leonhardt’s novel, they saw class as, “seeming more elusive than ever” I would agree only to a certain point because they are unaware of “the top 20 percent, as I said, have 85 percent of the wealth.” (Norton) Also with the fact that “the bottom 40 percent of the people in the United States have basically zero wealth,” as stated by Norton. In that statement, it exemplifies how unevenly the money is distributed in the United States. As students of UTA, we remain uninformed or have no desire to learn about the current state of America’s wealth. Also for students whose income is transferred from generation to generation is, “so money that goes from generation to generation to generation is very flat. So it tends to perpetuate a great deal over time.” In other words, all will be affected. The poor to the rich, in the end, it can only be solved by today’s students or the “future of America” to be properly be informed in order to solve our financial issues for the better.
Though I know people will argue against my opinions, it will not hide the truth and the citizens of America will come to realize it sooner or later. In Scott and Leonhard’s novel, they stated, “The income of the middle class rose by just 17 percent, to $43,700, and the income of the poorest fifth rose only 9 percent.” (Myers) Which could be consider “a large increase” that the rich could argue, trying to state the point that the lower classes has gained some income. But in reality, “the top 20 percent of Americans is that they have 85 percent of the wealth in America.” (Norton) which cannot be overlooked. Those who oppose my idea might also say, “we worked for all this, why can’t you?” But in the interview with Michael Norton, he states, “But it 's much, much rarer than people believe, and especially wealth transmission,” which shows the difficulty imposed among the lower classes, and making them hopeless for any effort in succeeding. Social warfare will seem endless, as it has been here for several centuries. Many come up with an argument to speak their thoughts in unfairness to the irregularly balanced economic levels, in effort to make the public realize these issues. I, myself have argued in an informative point of view to help educate our future of America, the students of UTA, hoping my thoughts will expand from them knowing our variety of wealth levels from rich to poor. Hoping to end the obliviousness of this country, I informed the students, working hard for their future, so that they can at least scratch the surface of this issue as they grow and realize the hardships of inequality that come before them.

Works Cited Myers, Dee Dee. "What Class Warfare Really Looks like" ["What Class Warfare Really Looks like"]. Politco. POLITICO, 11 July 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2012.
Norton, Michael. Interview by Steve Inskeep.Morning Edition. Natl. Public Radio, 7 Oct. 2010.
Web. 11 July 2011.
Scott And Leonhardt. “Class Matters”. New York, NY: Time Novels, 2005.1-26. Print.

Cited: Myers, Dee Dee. "What Class Warfare Really Looks like" ["What Class Warfare Really Looks like"]. Politco. POLITICO, 11 July 2011. Web. 28 Nov. 2012. Norton, Michael. Interview by Steve Inskeep.Morning Edition. Natl. Public Radio, 7 Oct. 2010. Web. 11 July 2011. Scott And Leonhardt. “Class Matters”. New York, NY: Time Novels, 2005.1-26. Print.