The desire of some to expropriate the wealth of others – all in the name of doing good – is not a new story. But one of the more recent editions of this tale is how a groups of millionaires, alongside a series of liberal groups, want government to levy a punitive tax on billionaires because of the coronavirus:

…the Fight Inequality Alliance, the Institute for Policy Studies, and the Patriotic Millionaires. And it’s those groups that are now calling for a one-time tax on billionaires to help stem the devastating health and economic impact of the pandemic on the rest of the people on the planet.

The groups are calling for a one-time 99% tax on the wealth that billionaires accumulated during the pandemic, which would raise $5.4 trillion, which in turn would cover the cost of fully vaccinating every person on the planet while also cover giving a $20,000 cash grant to everyone on the planet who has become unemployed during the pandemic.

If a 99% tax on billionaires’ pandemic wealth gains seems like a lot, Oxfam and the other groups point out that even after the one-time tax, the world’s 2,690 billionaires would still be $55 billion richer than before the pandemic ravaged the globe.

It’s perfectly okay, then, to pick the pockets of the very few almost clean, because they won’t know the difference. That’s the refrain of every bank robber in history. And of every authoritarian looking to gain the applause of the masses.

The way these folks could fight the inequality they so despise would be to shed their own millions first — now, not at some later date, and not laundered through a foundation.  That might ease their guilt.  But they will also find that even after a thorough shearing, the problems nagging their consciences will still exist.