Regardless of whether taxes may give an investor incentives one way or the other, the simple fact is that taxes on the wealthy are a confiscation of capital. The rich will not switch from eating caviar in their yachts to eating hamburger helper in their rowboats because of taxes. The taxes will come at the expense of investments, which in turn will reduce economic activity and employment. Taxing the rich more will neither affect their lifestyles (unless they are small business owners) or bring in much revenue, but it will cripple the economy. Some years ago the WSJ estimated that each dollar of investment creates twenty dollars of wages. Even if the rich plutocrat foregos a new yacht instead, the yacht builders are now unemployed.