Horror, suspense, science fiction, and fantasy fiction author Stephen King wants to be taxed more. He even wrote an article with the title “Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake!” He’s not satisfied being taxed at 28 percent. He believes a 50 percent rate is about right. No one’s stopping him from paying more. He has a net worth of $400 million. He could write a check to the IRS for $200 million and not see a change in lifestyle. He could do it but he won’t.

King is a bright guy. His book on the Kennedy assassination is a research marvel. So why is it that he can’t do some research on taxation? If he did, he would discover that the top one percent of wage earners shell out 37 percent of all the federal income taxes collected. The top five percent pay 59 percent. The top ten percent pay 70 percent.

Doesn’t the government have any responsibility in this matter? King doesn’t say anything about our bloated government, free-wheeling spending, waste, unconstitutional programs, and multi-generational government dependency.

No one is stopping Stephen King from voluntarily giving money to the federal government. He could write a check today. He won’t, because he knows he doesn’t have to. He only needs to make the offer to look good to all the guilt-manipulators and bloodsuckers that pontificate from their lofty towers of moral superiority. He also knows that if such a tax were ever to go into effect, none of the millions he’s already earned would be touched. A $200 million tax offering wouldn’t fund ten minutes of our government.

I have a better idea for Mr. King. Take the extra tax money you want to pay and set up a venture capital institute. People who have new business ideas or products that need investment capital would present their ideas to a board of experienced entrepreneurs who would evaluate the business plans. If accepted, the business would be capitalized. Existing business enterprises that needed additional capital for expansion could also participate.

King could join with Warren Buffett and fund a school for future entrepreneurs where students could learn how to run a business and pick up the basis in accounting, marketing, and advertising.

King, Buffett, and other high income earners would be able to assuage their guilt for being rich, raise up a generation of new business leaders, increase employment, curtail rising economic dependency, and even expand the tax base all without raising anybody’s taxes and expanding the reach of the federal government. So Stephen, don’t dump your money down a rat hole. Do something productive and lasting with it. Invest in Americans, not in the federal government.