What percentage would we have to tax the rich to balance the budget?

In 2008 (latest data available) there were 1,400,000 returns filed by people in the top tax bracket $392,149. Their total income was 1.7 trillion dollars. They paid 400 billion in taxes at 23% leaving them with 1.3 trillion after taxes. The deficit is 1.5 trillion. Since the deficit is 1.5 trillion and they only have 1.3 trillion left they would need to be taxed at an additional 115%. Since they are already taxed at 23% their total tax bill would need to be 138% of what they made.

Of course those numbers are for federal income taxes only. They also paid sales tax, property tax, state income tax, and who knows what other tax.

If they raised the tax rate on the top tax bracket to 100%, it wouldn't balance the budget with current spending levels.

Why do you think that only people in the top bracket should make up the difference, anyway?

We need to tax the rich at a rate of 673% in order to balance the budget.

The deceiptful little secret is the rich don't have enough money to balance the budget. The only reason politicians beat the drum about making rich people pay "their fair share" is to whip the unwashed masses into a class warfare frenzy.

When they talk about "taxing the rich," they're going after your wallet. They're just being deceiptful about it.

The Bush tax cuts cost $400 billion per year. Over 10 years that would raise $4 trillion. Combined with reductions in spending for defense with the wind-down of the wars, we'd be well on our way to a balanced budget, with only Bush's Medicare Part D ($170 billion per year) to cover. A 1% increase in the Medicare tax would come very close to covering that. Pull the cap on the Social Security tax and we'd be back in the black as we were when Clinton left office.

The Bush tax cuts expire automatically in 2012. All wars eventually come to an end, so Congress' penchant for doing nothing will bring us VERY close to getting back on track.

Why exactly are the people who make more money responsible for balancing out the mistakes fo others?

99.9%... they can keep a $1 or two