The "Welfare Queen" exists largely in the imagination of the right. Even in areas of the US with relatively generous public assistance, the difference in standard of living for someone who relies solely on welfare versus someone with even a moderate income (much less "rich") is so large, no rational person would choose to live on welfare just to avoid the taxation that resulted from having a high income.

I certainly don't agree with tax policies designed to punish or discourage high incomes, but this is pure hyperbole.

There certainly do exist people that face a negative return to marginal work, due to the phase out of public assistance with income.

I'm not really sure what "welfare queen" means, but there are plenty of people that face strong incentives to stay on public assistance and little help to get off of it. I wouldn't necessarily place all the blame on them, though.

I suspect the grandparent comment is pure sarcasm.

If that is the case, I apologize and feel a bit sheepish.

In my defense, I live an incredibly conservative area in the US, and many of my neighbors honestly believe this exact thing, so it isn't obvious sarcasm to me.

I really thought that saying something so obviously false would be easy to detect as sarcasm/satire.

> this is pure hyperbole.

I'm pretty sure it was satirical.

As a sibling pointed out, someone didn't get the joke. :)

The whole marginal thing must be really confusing. The problem is not that rich people would stop generating income - they won't. The problem is that marginal rates modify behavior, including changing how income is generated, where it is generated, etc. And the rich are exactly the people that have ample tools and opportunities to do that. If you earn nearly-minimal wage in some shop, you don't have many other options. If your taxes are raised, there's not much you can do other than spit and curse. If you're an investor, you have wide array of options where to invest, how to invest, etc. I know it sucks that it is always sunny in the rich man's world, but it's a reality. If whoever designs tax policy ignores it, he'd be unpleasantly surprised when projected tax income falls short of the target, and would have to slash the benefits programs or get deeper in debt.

They still pursue wealth, just not through the income venue.