Liberals: Should everybody's taxes be raised, or is it only the rich that need to pay more?

The middle class and the poor are struggling in this tough economy. Therefore only the taxes on the wealthiest should be raised at this time. Cutting programs to people who depend on those programs for basic necessities is a very stupid idea.

I am amazed that middle class and poor cons seem to think that the rich need them to represent their interests. The wealthy have highly paid lawyers, accountants, financial advisers, lobbyists, etc., to represent and protect their interests.

Those individuals do a much better job than the weak, unconvincing arguments that cons keep presenting. In addition, you’re arguing viewpoints that even some of the wealthiest individuals don’t agree with.

This serf mentality is a little disconcerting. It doesn’t auger well for the future of fiscal and economic thinking in this country. The people who are struggling and losing ground are the ones we should be concerned about. Those people are certainly not the wealthiest people in the United States.

We are talking about the deficit and if everyone would pay the same taxes on anything over $250K per person that they were paying in 1999 we could wipe out the deficit by the end of this decade. That is only 3.8% higher on income and capital gains. If there were not so many millionaires in Congress, "working" for the people, they would agree to it.

Increasing income tax on incomes under $250K does not have the desired outcome.

The reason Social Security and Medicare are 40% of the budget is that too many people are getting too many benefits. 65 million people on social security including 10 million children but 40 million seniors only. The rest are under other types of programs.

Yes, only the top 2% should have their taxes raised to at least what they were paying under Clinton. No, not crazy about cutting SS, Medicare or Medicaid. People are hurting in this country and those are programs that are keeping them going. Without them this country would be in bigger trouble than we are now. Talk about wantiing to punish the middle class and the poor. By the way, it's not just liberals who think the wealthy should pay more. The majority of Americans feel that way.

If it was up to me, I would have gotten rid of the Bush tax cuts for everybody the moment the Republicans started whining about it not being fair to the rich.

"Also, are you willing to cut entitlements like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid "

No, I'm not. Let's cut the military budget. We spend as much on that annually as we do an social security. What does it get us? Republicans are all guns and no butter.

All of the Bush tax cuts should have been allowed to expire. There can be some useful tweaks to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. There is a lot of waste in all programs.

the facts. the top 50% earners pay 96% of taxes. the bottom 50% pay 4%. the top 1% pay 34%. the top 5% pay 54%.

I thought Bush's tax cuts were a disaster from the beginning.

I'd like to see them all expire for rich and poor, and everybody get back to normal taxes and paying their way.

Polls show that many Americans believe the rich should pay more. I guess everyday Americans are fed up with the rich destroying the country so they can have mansions and yachts.

The very rich should at least pay their fair share. Too many tax loopholes for them. They pay a smaller percentage than somone making 50K. It isn;t right.

just raising those in the upper income brackets, including my parents, is fine with me.