Doesn't Hauser's law make the constant appeal to class envy seem sort of silly at best, and sinister at worst?

Hauser’s law states that, since WWII, US tax revenue as a percentage of GDP has always been pretty close to 19.5%, whatever the marginal rates were at the time.

So it seems that the when the President insists that budgetary reforms must include taxing the wealthy, he is only tapping into the class envy that many Democrats have carefully cultivated within their constituency.

It is unlikely that raising rich people’s taxes will make a dent in the current deficit and long term debt. It will simply distract non-wealty tax payers from looking at the real problem, which is that political Elite in Washington arrogantly believe that the US Treasury is one big campaign fund for their re election. It is entirely likely that raising their taxes will cause the “rich” to become even more creative at figuring out ways to hide their money someplace other than the US economy. Or absent that, they will simply raise the price on the stuff they make or sell.

And revenues will still be about 19.5%. Except that the economy will not grow as fast. Fewer jobs, less consumer spending, etc. Finally, lower revenues anyway.