Taxes should be increased on the wealthy

Is it fair to ask the rich to pay more in taxes?  This is a very difficult question to answer.  In my family I have seen both sides.  My mother’s parents worked very hard their entire lives.  My father’s parents have done the same.  This is where the similarities end.  One set of grandparents have amassed millions of dollars, while the other set lived in poverty and were barely able to make ends meet their entire lives, dying before their time.

The bottom line is that taxes need to be paid.  Nobody likes to give up their hard earned money.  I think we can all agree upon this.  I believe a flat tax on all Americans is the best choice.  While many in the upper class have voiced their discontent with this “socialist” policy, it would hardly bankrupt them.  In fact, those in the upper class have easier access to financial planning, trusts, overseas banking, and other tools to shelter their money from taxes.  When people, such as the 99%, make their discontent known, they are automatically labeled as radicals and dismissed as troublemakers.  Who is speaking for the majority?  What does the majority think of a flat tax? 

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/forbes_flat_tax.html

http://www.forbes.com/sites/nathanlewis/2011/10/13/flat-tax-vs-fair-tax-vs-herman-cains-9-9-9-plan/

~Virginia Bratney

The gap between the have and the have not is increasing.  I don't think that is what this country is about.  It is about everyone having a chance for "happiness" but with the media protraiting life styles that is so unatainable by most...we are all a little sadder.  

I believe that people should get what they work for, but at what point is too much (regardless of how you earned it). Why can't there be a progressive tax for capital gains like we have for income tax?

This is an area where one can easily go back and find the taxation rates and other economical information and test such ideas as 'Trickle Down' economics and test GDP against tax rates.

I think going back just to the tax rates under Reagan or Clinton would be helpful. Then the Rich were paying MUCH more yet the economy was much better and the rich were doing just fine in that system.

Suddenly we decide to leave those good years, institute some great tax rates for the rich primarily, NOT cut spending while engaging in two wars, adding prescription Drugs to Medicare and other spending at the same time and WALLA ... here we are....

I'm not sure Obama has done as much as he could have, but he did reverse the jobs we were bleeding at the end of the Bush term that had so much momentum it carried into several initial months under Obama... We may not be adding jobs back fast enough but at least the trend seems slowly up... beats the other alternative, right?

When I hear rich people like Buffet, Gates, etc. SAY the rich should be taxed more as individuals and are willing to pay more... WELL???? There is a lot of truth to what Buffett said about being taxed at a lower rate than his secretary... Why? Easy... He doesn't make much of his money from working for wages but, rather, as investment dividends that are taxed at a much lower rate... That is often how the rich make their money and also avoid paying the taxes at a rate that the working wage earner cannot enjoy.. Not to mention they can afford the lawyers and accountants to help them squeeze every possible penny into their pocket.

I hear some of the rich cry a lot about paying taxes but have yet to find one willing to trade places with a poor or middle class person paying less in taxes.