The plaintiffs’ arguments in Moore v. United States have little basis in law — unless you think that a list of long-ago-discarded laissez-faire decisions from the early 20th century remain good law. And a decision favoring these plaintiffs could blow a huge hole in the federal budget. While no Warren-style wealth tax is on the books, the Moore plaintiffs do challenge an existing tax that is expected to raise $340 billion over the course of a decade.
But Republicans also hold six seats on the nation’s highest Court, so there is some risk that a majority of the justices will accept the plaintiffs’ dubious legal arguments. And if they do so, they could do considerable damage to the government’s ability to fund itself.
The Masque of the Red Death by Edgar Allen Poe was a feel-good story about this very phenomenon.
I actually wrote a poem for a writing prompt on bad site that was really just this. Instead of the Red Death, Governor Goodwill was suprisingly confronted by the survivors of the society he helped overthrow.