A strong case could be made that many of the wealthy enjoy their opulence due to class warfare against the poor, cycling wealth upwards and taking far more than

A strong case could be made that many of the wealthy enjoy their opulence due to class warfare against the poor, cycling wealth upwards and taking far more than the actual market value of what they produce, simply by being able to leverage wealth and power into more wealth and power. It's not true across the board, but our economy is far from a pure meritocracy. I'm not in favor of "wealth redistribution" or taxing the rich a priori, but I think an evidence-based, non-punitive progressive tax is quite reasonable, particularly if the benefit goes to shared infrastructure that enables class mobility (public transportation, education, etc).