Quote:
Originally Posted by The12thMan";p="
Exactly how much money do you think the top 1/10 of 1% should get in one year?
If you don't like that question, then tell me exactly what percentage of income they should pay in taxes.
|
The details are up to Congress. I'd make a few general points:
1. The tax system that conservatives often criticize as "punitive" toward the wealthy or successful has turned out to be nothing of the sort. Despite such "confiscatory" measures, the wealthy have increased their share of income -- to the point of hoovering money out of the pockets of the less affluent.
2. Given #1, as well as the gigantic federal deficit and the consequences of extreme income inequality, it makes zero sense to prolong or enhance tax cuts for the wealthy.
The estate tax should be retained, and the AMT fixed instead. The cap on Social Security taxes should be removed, and/or income caps on benefits should be added. Marginal rates should be re-examined. Tax enforcement should be beefed up to capture more of that non-wage income.
Perhaps you think this is somehow a socialist redistribution of wealth downward, ignoring the fact that the current situation is a very large redistribution of wealth upward, which simply makes no sense.
Everyone's second $100,000 should be taxed more heavily than everyone's first $100,000. And that principle should be a general rule when it comes to taxation. The marginal rates should not be confiscatory, but they should be more progressive than they are now.