Looking at it from the State's perspective, what happens when taxation on the rich turns around and bites them in the ass?
See WSJ article, Mar 2011:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...592684626.html
"...
Nearly half of California's income taxes before the recession came from the top 1% of earners.... In New York before the recession, the top 1% of earners, who made more than $580,000 a year,
paid 41% of the state's income taxes in 2007, up from 25% in 1994, according to state tax data. The
top 1% of taxpayers paid 40% or more of state income taxes in New Jersey and Connecticut. In Illinois, which has a flat income-tax rate of 5%,
the top 15% paid more than half the state's income taxes."
And, we all know how the States are struggling to meet their budget issues so apparently the rich haven't been successful in bailing them out yet.
The notion that tax increases on the "rich" is going to somehow solve our deficit crisis and fund unlimited supplies of money for future giveaway programs is pure horse pucky.
I am in favor of closing loopholes that enable tax payers (both great and small) to avert their tax bills. Honestly, I look for these same loopholes because they put more money in my pocket. And everyone else does too when they find them. Why, for some reason, do we expect less from the guys making a lot of money and have accountants on their payrolls to do less than we would?
I'm not sure I like the idea of a flat tax because I see it turning into the same scenario as the stamps you buy at the post office. The cost just goes up and up and up with no real justification except that USPS has to cover so many retirees.
I'm just tired of everyone trying to win votes on the "let's tax the rich while lowering your tax bill" podium. It's nothing more than an attempt at buying votes by a bunch of politicos, on both sides of the isle, that don't have the balls to seriously address both sides of the problem.