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The Sam Vimes "Boots" Theory of Socioeconomic Unfairness explains one way the rich get richer.

Any time conversations about wealth and poverty come up, people inevitably start talking about boots.

The standard phrase that comes up is "pull yourself up by your bootstraps," which is usually shorthand for "work harder and don't ask for or expect help." (The fact that the phrase was originally used sarcastically because pulling oneself up by one's bootstraps is literally, physically impossible is rarely acknowledged, but c'est la vie.) The idea that people who build wealth do so because they individually work harder than poor people is baked into the American consciousness and wrapped up in the ideal of the American dream.

A different take on boots and building wealth, however, paints a more accurate picture of what it takes to get out of poverty.

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@litcapital/Twitter

The IRS requires criminals to report their illegal income.

You know how sometimes you see something come through your social media feed and you think, "There's no way that's real," only to then have your mind blown when you find out it actually is real?

This is one of those times.

Twitter user @litcapital shared a post that appeared to be a screenshot from the IRS website with two entries on it:

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President Biden has drawn a pretty clear-cut line at the amount of money he believes makes someone rich. In numerous speeches, he's said that those making $400,000 or more should pay a higher tax rate because "they can afford to pay a little more."

Biden has proposed a tax increase on high-income earners to help pay for the social spending the country has done to offset economic problems caused by the pandemic.

In a joint interview with Vice President Harris, Biden said, "I will raise taxes for anybody making over $400,000," and anyone making less than that would face "no new taxes."

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