Success Happy

Why should successful people paid higher taxes than those who are less successful?

Public Comments

1. That is one price of success
2. its a pretty good system you pay a percentage should poor people get poorer and rich people get richer? that doesnt sound like a good system to me
3. They shouldn't. They should pay the same percentage of tax as everyone else on any income above the poverty line. When you take the same percentage of a higher number, you get a higher amount, so successful (high wage earners) will naturally pay more dollars in taxes.
4. Because they can AFFORD to. You never hear them complaining about paying more for their homes, cars, private schools for their kids, etc. But they howl and screech about their tax "burden." In a more stark vein, a flat rate tax would have to be levied at about 25% with no deductions, exemptions, or credits to raise the same revenue as the current graduated income tax. Only the wealthiest pay that much of a net rate -- I make nearly 6 figures and my net is less than 17% -- so the poor and middle class would take it in the shorts with a flat rate tax. A single mom with 2 young kids and a crap $8.50 an hour job would lose nearly $10k per year in available cash with a 25% tax burden and no EIC. Another aspect to consider is that even though the top 10% of taxpayers pay about 80% of all taxes, they control over 95% of all wealth. From that perspective, the current tax rates are unfairly LOW for the wealthiest taxpayers with respect to lower paid taxpayers.
5. Because being "successful" means they have successfully managed to get a disproportionate amount of your and my money into their hands. Progressive taxation is a way for the rest of us to get at least some of it back.
6. The rationale is that they are more able to. Probably fair up to a point - how MUCH higher can be debated.