A corporate CEO will not exert less effort to make the company work well simply because his take-home pay is $10 million a year rather than $12 million. In any case, the possible loss of effort in socially productive activities from taxing the few in the top 1 percent—which, because of the huge inequality in our society, raises large amounts of money—pales in comparison with the effects on the many more numerous who would have to face higher tax rates to raise the same amount of money.
