# Plutocracy Lexicon The vocabulary in which contemporary American plutocracy operates and is contested — the tax-code rhetorical-vocabulary (capital gains, carried interest, estate tax), the donor-network and political-economy nicknames (Kochtopus), the populist-conservative class-political rhetorical-framing ("the real economy"), and the foundational analytical-vocabulary for understanding the political-economic infrastructure of organized wealth. This is the **alphabetical dictionary view** for the Plutocracy vocabulary, mirroring the pattern at [[Authoritarianism Lexicon]] and adjacent Lexicon MOCs. For the **regime-type view**, see [[Plutocracy]] which handles both the political-philosophical category and the rhetorical-deployment in unified form. ## Why two views? The framework view at [[Plutocracy]] (Foundations regime-type entry) covers both phenomenon and rhetorical-work in unified form — the established disposition rule for Concept entries that already do both analytical jobs well (cf. [[The Cathedral]] / [[Oligarchy]] disposition cases). The lexicon view sorts alphabetically — useful when you encounter a term in the wild and need a definition fast, and useful for pattern-spotting across the different sub-vocabularies (the tax-code-rhetorical cluster, the donor-network-organizational cluster, the populist-conservative class-political-rhetorical cluster). ## A — Z ### Capital Gains Tax [[Capital Gains Tax]] — U.S. federal tax-code provision designating differential-rate-taxation regime for income from sale of capital assets held over one year (0%/15%/20% long-term rates) versus ordinary income (37% top rate). The substantial rate differential is one of the principal contemporary upward-redistribution mechanisms in U.S. fiscal policy. [[Warren Buffett]]'s "I pay a lower rate than my secretary" the canonical contemporary rhetorical-political formulation of the critique. ### Carried Interest Loophole [[Carried Interest Loophole]] — Specific U.S. federal tax-code provision permitting investment-management-industry partnership-interest carried-payments to be taxed at long-term capital-gains rates (20% top) rather than ordinary-income rates (37% top). Substantially-benefits private-equity, hedge-fund, and venture-capital industry compensation structure ("2-and-20" private-equity fund structure). Documentary case of concentrated-industry-political-power preserving favorable tax-policy against bipartisan-rhetorical opposition. ### Estate Tax [[Estate Tax]] — U.S. federal tax-code provision designating levy on transfer of property at death, applied above substantial exemption ($13.99M individual / $27.98M married couple as of 2026). [[Frank Luntz]]'s documented 2001 strategic rebrand of "estate tax" into "death tax" is one of the cleanest documentary cases of strategic-vocabulary deployment producing substantive political-rhetorical-outcome change. ### Kochtopus [[Kochtopus]] — Pejorative-and-analytical designation for the Koch-family-funded conservative political infrastructure — the network of think tanks, advocacy organizations, university-academic programs, donor-coordination infrastructure, and political-action committees that the [[Koch brothers]] have substantially-built across approximately five decades. Compresses elaborate-network analytical-content into single-octopus-tentacle image. [[Jane Mayer]]'s *Dark Money* the canonical contemporary critique. ### The Real Economy [[The Real Economy]] — Right-coded class-political distinction designating *real* economy (manufacturing, agriculture, mining, fossil-fuel-energy, skilled-trades, small-business) versus *fake* or *artificial* economy (services, finance, professional-knowledge-work, government employment, academia, technology-information-work). Operational vocabulary for contemporary populist-conservative class-political mobilization that simultaneously *misidentifies* the political-economic mechanisms producing post-1970s political-economic restructuring. ## Concept and Ideology Entries (cross-reference) The following entries are *not* in `/Terminology/Plutocracy/` because they live at the Concept-or-Ideology-entry level — but they are essential to the broader plutocracy-vocabulary infrastructure: ### Concept entries - [[Dark Money]] *(Concept)* — the post-Citizens-United funding architecture - [[Tax Havens]] *(Concept)* — the jurisdictional-secrecy infrastructure - [[Money Laundering]] *(Concept)* — the operational-technique - [[Offshore Financial Secrecy]] *(Concept)* — the broader jurisdictional infrastructure - [[Powell Memo]] *(Concept)* — the foundational strategic document - [[Koch Donor Summit Model]] *(Concept)* — the operational donor-coordination model - [[Gilded Age Plutocracy]] *(Concept)* — the historical-comparative-frame - [[Movement Conservatism]] *(Concept)* — the political-organizational form - [[Crypto Super PACs]] *(Concept)* — contemporary cryptocurrency-funded campaign-finance vehicles - [[Revolving Door]] *(Concept)* — adjacent influence-mechanism - [[Federal Deficit and National Debt]] *(Concept)* — adjacent fiscal-economic phenomenon - [[Gini Coefficient]] *(Concept)* — the principal empirical inequality-measurement - [[Wage Growth vs Productivity]] *(Concept)* — the principal empirical-Concept for post-1970s political-economic restructuring - [[Starve the Beast]] *(Concept)* — adjacent fiscal-strategic Concept ### Ideology entries - [[Trickle-Down Economics]] — the principal ideological framework - [[MAGA]] — adjacent contemporary populist-conservative coalition - [[National Conservatism]] — adjacent populist-conservative framework - [[Paleoconservatism]] — adjacent populist-conservative framework - [[Makers and Takers]] — adjacent class-political-rhetoric Ideology ### Foundation entries - [[Plutocracy]] *(Foundations regime-type)* — the regime-type Concept (handles both phenomenon and rhetorical-work in unified form) - [[Oligarchy]] *(Foundations regime-type)* — adjacent regime-type Concept ### Event entries - [[Citizens United v. FEC]] — the principal contemporary campaign-finance legal anchor - [[Bush Tax Cuts]] — adjacent tax-policy Event - [[Reagan Tax Cuts]] — adjacent tax-policy Event - [[Panama Papers]] / [[Paradise Papers]] / [[Pandora Papers]] — offshore-secrecy documentary-investigative anchors - [[FinCEN Files]] — the regulatory-side leak (US Treasury SARs documenting $2T in flagged-suspicious bank flows) - [[Suisse Secrets]] — direct breach of Swiss banking secrecy at the [[Credit Suisse]] private-bank core ### Ecosystem entries - [[Dark Money Ecosystem]] — the network-map view of the funding infrastructure ### Organization entries - [[Cato Institute]] / [[Mercatus Center]] / [[Citizens for a Sound Economy]] — Koch-network organizational components ## See also - [[Plutocracy]] *(Foundations regime-type entry)* — the regime-type Concept - [[Dark Money]] — the principal contemporary funding-infrastructure Concept - [[Folder Spec - Terminology - Plutocracy]] — the subfolder spec