I'm not sure how anyone comes out against the rich not paying more taxes.
I think the problem is that everyone is rich in someone else's mind.
You will never be able to convince me that by working overtime at every opportunity, not reproducing with random women, and saving and investing my money, I should be rewarded by my government with a higher tax rate.
In my mind, I should get a reduced rate, not my buddy who drank away his money, missed work, wouldn't work overtime, and had a few kids.
But to my buddy, I am now rich. In his mind, I have the ability to pay more, so I should pay more.. And that is the problem at its essence.
I get your analogy, but I don't think that we're talking about the same thing.
"
Should the Rich pay more taxes?" is a misnomer even in the question itself.
Let's say if everyone paid the same % percentage of their income in taxes, by the very nature of someone make more money, then they're going to pay more taxes.
28% of $250,000 a year is going to be much more in taxes than 28% of $20,000 a year.
That seems simple enough right?
Taxation is used for a multitude of reasons, and not just to generate income for the Government to spend however they see fit.
Taxation is also used to create incentives, deductions for example to make one's home more energy efficient for example. Spend some money insulating your house, saving energy costs/consumption for everyone else, get a one time incentive deduction based up the amount of money that you spent doing that.
They're used much the same why to stimulate the economy, or economic investment in some, if not all areas of the country.
Taxation is also used to create disincentives.
Let's use your analogy. Your buddy, in addition to drinking away has paycheck, he also paid an additional "sin tax" on the booze that he bought, and if he smokes on each pack of cigarettes that he purchased.
The disincentive here is to encourage to drink less, and to quite smoking.
Either way the Government generates income.
You save in a lot of ways in the long term by not drinking or smoking.
It's not how we spend our money, or how much any of us earn that's at question, what's at question is HOW we're currently taxed and who pays what percentage.
Taxation has always been used as a source of income for the Government.
It's been used throughout history both as incentive, and disincentive from the Government to do or not do certain things.
Sometimes it's fair, and some would argue that most of the time it is not.
The current American Tax Code is thicker than a New York City Phone Book (do they still print those?
).
It literally takes dozens of "tax code" lawyers and accountants to decipher all of it, and the existing "loopholes" are deliberately put there by those who can afford all of those lawyers, and accountants, and in my view that's what is no longer fair about our tax system.
So even with a "flat-tax" the Rich are going to pay more anyway.
When folks argue that the Rich aren't paying their share, there's an argument to be made for that.
Buying a luxury yacht isn't the same as insulating one's home.
But yet tax breaks are available for making those types of "investments."
Who benefits?
The taxpayer that can't afford that yacht, while being expected to give up government programs, and certain "social safety nets?"
The yacht builder and his employees because now his business has to pay 28% of a $100,000,000 yacht that he build and sold because now it's income?
The more we make the more we're going to pay.
But our current tax code, and all of the built in loop holes don't make it fair or equatable anymore.
Yes, I've heard that 46% of Americans pay no taxes at all.
Most of those 46% of Americans, usually married, usually with kids, fall at or below
the National Poverty Level.
So in effect, most of the individuals who fall under certain income ranges pay little or not income tax.
Supposedly to maintain a certain "quality of living."
Those of us who pay taxes, pay for that too.
Tapping someone who earns more to pay more taxes so that others don't have to, is a disincentive to earn more.
What do we say to those who are locked in at there current income level, because those who have the most wealth, also control the businesses, the banks, our media, and our politicians?
What do the "super rich" say to the rich, the wealthy, and upper-middle-class, the middle-class, the lower-middle-class, and those who don't pay any taxes?
Let them eat cake?
While we fight amongst ourselves trying to decide how much of our infrastructure remains intact? Whether or not our parents are going to have to eat cat food, or move in with us because they're 401K and retirement plans have been raped and pillaged by those who've made a bundle betting against the very institutions that they themselves own?
While we work two or more jobs trying to make ends meet without health benefits, or having whatever raise that we earned last year being eaten up by rising premium costs on what little insurance we can afford?
Trying to decide if we can afford that packet of bologna, trying to budget in half a tank of gas to get us to that low paying job because all of the jobs within our skill set and education level have been shipped overseas?
Oh, but those 46% of Americans who pay nothing, they're the real criminals here.
That's what the media that's owned by the "super rich" are now telling us.
Because that's what's being pounded into a segment of America's populations heads.
We're just not working hard enough.
We're spoiled, and all of the government programs like Social Security, Medicare, Medicade, Head Start, Children's Health Insurance Program, Unemployment Benefits, Pension Funds and other programs are sucking our Country's resources dry!
And what's sad is that there is a large segment of our population, many of the same folks who benefit from these programs mind you, who are beginning to believe all of that.
So the very question
Should the Rich pay more taxes? Is a misnomer. It's misleading.
They already do.
The argument that is being made is that they should somehow have to pay less.
That's what I've been seeing over the past several years.
Take it for what it's worth.
