"A prince, not being able to exercise this virtue of liberality in such a way that it is recognized, except to his cost, if he is wise he ought not to fear the reputation of being mean, for in time he will come to be more considered than if liberal, seeing that with his economy his revenues are enough, that he can defend himself against all attacks, and is able to engage in enterprises without burdening his people; thus it comes to pass that he exercises liberality towards all from whom he does not take, whom are numberless, and meanness towards those whom he does not give, who are few." (The Prince, pages 71-72)
A prince should look as if he can support himself, so that he is not relient on his subjects. He should be able to live off the reasonable taxes that he imposes on his people. Do not worry about being mean. You must always be able to withstand attacks, but only with the money alloted to you, thus you do not burden your people. Do not give tax cuts to the rich, unless you also give to the poor, which is not advised for you will gain the appearience of being "generous" which is, according to Machiavelli, a bad trait, and will bring downfall. Not giving tax cuts to the rich will benefit you in three ways. The first being that you will have more money to spend on the wars you partake in. The second being that they are a select few people that will grumble, as opposed to all who do not have tax cuts. Thirdly, it will give America a more "equality for everyone" feel to it.
Machiavelli states in chapter 17 of his book The Prince "...because it is difficult to unite them[fear and love] in one person, it is much safer to be feared than loved, when, of the two, either must be dispersed with...nevertheless a prince out to inspire fear in such a way that, if he does not win love, he avoids hatred..."
It is never safe to have them hate you. With the tax cuts for the rich, you're only making the people of the lower class annoyed, which leads to hatred. This will not make people want to willingly die for their country, let alone you. Abolishing the tax cuts will put things more in your favor. Also, it will make you look generous, because having returned something, however, you will not gain a reputation for being generous, for you haven't given anything new to them, so you have no chance of ruining your reputation down the line.
On a further note, it
is better to have many poor followers who will die for you than a few
rich ones that have the money to pay their way out of going to war.
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