If you make $200,000, or you and your wife make $250,000, congratulations! The people have been polled. You have been selected to participate in paying more taxes.
But is raising taxes on the rich the best way to cut the deficit? Not really. It could be part of a larger set of measures, but on its own, wouldn't raise all that much revenue.
Why? There just aren't that many rich people out there.
That’s right. The Congressional Budget Office calculated that raising taxes on the top two rates by 1% point would yield $115 billion.
And we currently have a $1.6 trillion deficit.
It seems to me we are simply living beyond our means. We’re borrowing money to enhance our standard of living. Many Americans tried that over the past decade, and ended up bankrupt. How will the nation fare any better?
***
“The problem with socialism is that you eventually, run out of other people’s money.”
- Margaret Thatcher