The rich should not have to pay taxes?

The 1 percent in the United States and Europe can take comfort from recent statements made by T. Harv Eker, the author of the bestselling Secrets of the Millionaire Mind, in an interview that appeared in the Spanish daily, ABC. “The wealthy should not have to pay taxes,” said the smiling and affable Eker, who added that “90% of those who have a lot of money have it because they earned it.”

By using his own wealth-generating concepts, according to Eker’s website, he has become a millionaire in just 2 ½ years as an author and motivational speaker.  The website asserts, “T. Harv Eker has helped over 1.5 million people move closer to their goal of true financial freedom. His strategies and lessons will give you immediate and lasting results. You are in the right place if you are committed to living your true potential. Remember, your success starts and stops with you. “

In the ABC newspaper interview, Eker does not promise wealth to the thousands who read his book or attend his talks. When asked how many people have become as rich as he has with the concepts he touts, Eker responded “I don’t know. But the people who come to my seminars, when they come back, they do it much better than at the beginning. They don’t become rich, but they improve the chance that they will become so.”

In his book, Eker encourages readers not to blame others for their own financial woes and instead take charge of their lives. For Eker, gaining wealth is a matter of one’s attitude. Touching on the ongoing worldwide economic turbulence, Eker said that like any family, those countries that know how to handle their money will do well, and vice versa.

Eker was asked, if the majority of rich people deserve their wealth, what is the purpose of wealth redistribution or the government?  Stepping into analyzing American politics, the Canadian-born Eker told the interviewer, “I believe that 90% of wealthy deserved it. According to Barack Obama, those people who have the most money must pay more in taxes. But the majority of the funds that the government receives and distributes is wasted. This is the problem. Taxes feed corruption. The rich should not have to pay taxes. They should distribute wealth to the lower classes without intermediaries and not waste it by giving it to the government. Or the government should be more efficient and stop up the holes where they waste money. People should understand that money does not come from the sky: it is a mentality of acquired rights. Get up and do something”

Whether President Obama takes Eker’s analysis to heart, as the election approaches, remains to be seen. A member of the 1 percent himself, as noted by former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour at the Republican National Convention on August 28, Obama will have to use his own motivational skills and high-flown rhetoric  to convince voters that another four years in office will give them the tools for their own wealth creation. Republican candidate Mitt Romney, on the other hand, points out his success at generating wealth for himself and also managing the Commonwealth of Massachusetts as governor as evidence that he can manage the American economy as well. Fellow One-Percenter Eker just might agree with him.