Reply #98: Several Reasons

[maui9002]

1. Rates that high are confiscatory, which leads to all sorts of unanticipated and unwanted consequences. Many people who make that kind of money are valuable to our economy; rates that high would encourage them to either to move or invest more heavily in other countries to our detriment. Their highly paid tax advisors and lobbyists will work much harder (because it's in their economic interests to do so) to take advantage of or create new tax loopholes or deductions, which I believe is the real problem we face in our tax system.

2. I believe that rates that high ultimately will reduce the amount of tax revenue to the government.

3. If 90% above $5,000,000 per year is ok, why not 90% above $1,000,000$ Above $500,000? Above $250,000? If it's economic equality you're after, why not tax 100% of all income and return an equal amount to all working citizens who pay into the system? Of course, that's a ridiculous example, because our economic system is based on rewarding those who create or produce something that is more valuable than what is produced by others; and those of us who spend our tax dollars vote with those tax dollars (which is why American Idol for instance is more "successful" than say a science show on PBS--I can't defend other than to say it reflects what's important to us). Bottom line, just because someone makes more money, even lots more money, means they should pay a rate that is close to 100%.

4. The tax system has lots of problems that can be solved with changes that are more likely to be adopted: the estate tax should be retained but with a higher minimum; the different rates for earned income and investment income should be eliminated or at least narrowed; and a whole host of deductions for high income individuals should be reviewed and eliminated or scaled back--see David Cay Johnston's "Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super Rich--and Cheat Everybody Else" for numerous examples. In addition, to offset the huge cost of the debacle in Iraq, perhaps we should consider a war tax that would be imposed most heavily on those who profited from the war (although there might be a constitutional issue there) or at least on very high income individuals, which might hasten the war's end.