Here's a word we should get our heads around: dekamillionaire. It's a great word, meaning one who has wealth measured in the tens of millions of dollars. The word just sounds like it is referring to a massive amount of money (which, generally, it is), and at the same time its Greek roots give it a ring of exotic foreignness, and of, dare I say, the decadence that can be associated with a love of wealth eclipsing empathy for others.
Many poor people, particularly the rural country folk, have an unfortunate track record of allowing themselves to be rallied against taxing the rich. This holds no matter how vigorously exploited by the wealthy they are, and no matter how unlikely it is for they themselves to overcome the obstacles that the rich erect against the unwashed masses joining their ranks. Poor folks often can still picture the circumstances wherein they themselves become millionaires, and imagine the horror of having some of that wealth stripped away to aid others who couldn't reach the ladder of success before it got pulled up the last climber.
But by and large, "millionaires" are neither the problem, nor the imagined solution to it. In its most encompassing interpretation, an upper-middle class person who owns a reasonably wide-reaching small business or a large family farm with some equipment, a nice house with a two-car garage, some jewelry and other family heirlooms, and some savings stocked away, could very wel have a net worth of over a million dollars. Although such an individual might not be able to quickly turn all his property and savings into a million-dollar pile of cash, that is one perception that people get when discussing millionaires these days. In fact, seven years ago, the New York Times ran an article describing how many people who have actually made a million dollars still feel "financially insecure".
But there's some middle ground between millionaire and the next level of -illionaire, the "billionaire." And here we find the "dekamillionaire," the person whose wealth is measured in the tens of millions of dollars. It could also be spelled "decamillionaire," but people seem to get confused on the pronunciation of the "c" there, and could possibly also confuse it with "decimillionaire," the person with a mere hundred-thousand dollars. Besides, "dekamillionaire" retains the Greek origin of the word which makes it sound appropriately foreign, as different from the normal American experience as dekamillionaires themselves, people who are likely to live lives alien to the experience of the average person.
It is only a coincidence, of course, that dekamillionare brings to mind "decadence," a word derived from the same root as "decay" and suggesting declining morals and a failing civilization. That, however, is precisely what many dekamillionaires (or "dekamils" if you want to shorten it up) threaten to bring to the United States, by nurturing an "I've got mine, screw everybody else" attitude and using their wealth to buy politicians, and have those politicians screw over the poor on their behalf.
So when we talk about increasing tax revenues, and about seeking greater contributions from those who can afford to give more (and who, by dint of having their wealth and their interests protected by this country, are actually receiving a whole lot more) it is the dekamillionaires of whom we should speak first.