I think it's more insidious than that. Of course it's not done on earned income. That would be too transparent for the general public to see. Instead you create

I think it's more insidious than that. Of course it's not done on earned income. That would be too transparent for the general public to see. Instead you create a lot of financial instruments with varying degrees of complication that all have rules for avoiding taxation while still providing yields. Even better if it takes expensive and exclusive accountants and lawyers to conceive, establish, and protect these. This way you get to give appearance of the wealthy doing their part in a progressive tax while really only subjecting a small or zero amount of their wealth to it.