Should We Tax Wealthy People to Help Others? - My thoughts

I got involved in a conversation on Facebook that started with the above meme/twitter post. 

This got me to thinking. There are those who believe that if someone has a lot of money, it is reasonable to expect them to use it to help others. The meme also declares that we need to tax them in order to get the money, because they won’t do it voluntarily. In other words, it is OK to “force” people to help others because WE (not “they”) believe it is the right thing to do. Rephrasing once again, “I think YOU should help this situation, because YOU can afford it. YOU have way too much money to keep it to yourself.” 

(I think that makes for a fair paraphrase).

So here’s the part I started thinking about: If you make $2,138/year, you are in the top 50% of the world economy. If you are AT the poverty line in America, you are in the top 30% globally. The top 10% is around $61,000. So, based on this info, can people in far poorer conditions reasonably expect those with far more than THEY have, expect them to support the issues they live with? After all, that is what we are saying when we want to force wealthy people to support the issue WE believe they should help with. "YOU have so much more than ME, so YOU are responsible for fixing bad situations." 

Since the majority of Americans are far wealthier than the rest of the world, does the rest of the world have a right to demand the same of you and me, to fix bad situations? If YOU think the wealthy (defined as a comparison to your own financial situation) have the responsibility to spend their money on the issues YOU deem worthy, do far poorer people in the world have the right to think that YOU (being wealthy in their eyes) have the responsibility to spend YOUR money on the issues THEY deem worthy? And since YOU so firmly believe that YOU are right (about the wealthy in this country), will you put your money where your mouth is, and do just that? If not, do we need a “world tax”, (perhaps instituted by the U.N.) to get the money from YOU?

You can’t say that it is a different situation, because you have FAR more than most people on this planet. It’s all a matter of where you fall on the scale. You may not see yourself as “wealthy” because you make your comparison with those who have more than you. Try the comparison in the opposite direction with those who have far less than you. YOU ARE WEALTHY! And if you believe the wealthy are responsible for fixing bad situations, why don’t you do it?