Please explain why the rich must pay higher taxes?

Question

Dear Liberals, I have a question that puzzles me and I'd like some of your input as I, a fiscal conservative, can't grasp the justification for increasing taxes on the rich(higher than they are now).

These "Occupy Wall Street" protesters are unnerving me a bit with their chants of "tax the rich" and "arrest the rich!" This just strikes me as a Liberal "Tea Party": unorganized, unregulated, and easily discredited. I realize that it's easy for them to advocate raising taxes that don't affect them so they can get more benefits, and I feel easily enticed too. However, I don't see the logic of it very well.

When I ask my Liberal colleagues about these issues, all they do is ramble about the "corrupt Republicans" and how Bush "ruined the country" while the Democrats where trying to "fix the mess."  The only definitive answer they gave me was that the rich weren't paying "their fair share" and needed to be taxed more. I've also been told that America's economy boomed when we had higher taxes on the rich, and bringing taxes back up will bring our jobs back.

My question is twofold: What is the "fair share" that the rich need to pay, and how does the economy boom through higher taxes? Seeing that the rich already pay more in taxes than the rest of us, and that most of them are self-made(Gates, Jobs, and Buffett to name a few) shouldn't they get some sort of reward for their hard work? And how does taking money out of the economy through taxes increase prosperity? Considering that the Rich are the movers and shakers of the economy, wouldn't they be enticed to leave, let along spend less?

Don't get me wrong: I support a flat tax with the same rate for everyone, but why should the rich be forced to pay a higher rate because they have more to pay?

? · Accepted Answer

....

Okay. The rich have been feeding of the poor forever. The burdens of this country should not be set on the poor. My parents and sister survive on less than $35,000 a year before taxes. The rich complain if they don't make another 100K. They have reaped the benefits more than anyone else in this country, so they have to pay the price for the extra benefits that they want.

milici · Answer

I understand your job introduction argument yet you're forgetting that maximum "wealthy" human beings are actually not great firms yet fairly small agencies. whilst human beings see the agencies last down of their cities because of the fact of this. A pizza keep, a dry purifier, a preschool or a bowling alley that make over $250,000 a twelve months could be positioned out of company with the aid of the "wealthy" tax. If we tax those agencies to the factor of putting them out of company then the place will the tax funds come from? that's a vicious cycle.

Drixnot · Answer

Who caused the financial mess we are in? Who shipped jobs to China? Who has repeatedly raped the lower income levels with tricks (examples - intentionally changing the order of bank transactions to cause more overdrafts. Intentionally over reporting the amounts in back accounts when people check their balances. allowing loan companies to package loans together for resell and therefore encouraging more and more risky loans ann unethical behavior ... I can easily go on)

But I'll sum it up, the wealthy and powerful control the government more than any poor person ever could and they have misused that power. Now its time to pay the piper ... its only logical to send the bill to the people that did the damage. Not to mention ... they are the ones that HAVE THE MONEY.

? · Answer

"What is the "fair share" that the rich need to pay,"

The tax rate needs to be set so that we can pay the nation's bills.

"Seeing that the rich already pay more in taxes than the rest of us,"

They can afford it. 

"and that most of them are self-made(Gates, Jobs, and Buffett to name a few) shouldn't they get some sort of reward for their hard work?"

Their reward for their hard work is the profits they collect. If they don't like our tax rate they are free to move elsewhere.

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Please explain why the rich must pay higher taxes?

4 Answers