There is a difference between being rich and being successful. successful people have actually produced something, whereas rich people simply have a lot of money.
You posted: There is a difference between being rich and being successful. successful people have actually produced something, whereas rich people simply have a lot of money.
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Rich people may have produced as well. The obvious example is Bill Gates. There are others, of course.
But why should it matter? (Disclaimer: I am far from rich, and moderately successful— but not close to being subject to the $250K income level confiscation proposal.)
Those who inherit money did not steal it, and neither did their parents or whoever left the money to them. That money, at some point, was earned, and was property for those who earned it to do with as they pleased. There is no “fairness” in excessive taxation of either the rich or the successful.