Joe, perhaps Robin Hood was your favorite book as a child. This may explain your "take from the rich to give to the poor" mentality. Taking money from citizens to give to the federal government is hardly money well spent..(unless, of course, that is who pays your salary).

The 1920 Mellon tax cuts , the 1960 Kennedy tax cuts and the 1981 Regan tax cuts , ALL helped the economy.

A reduction of high marginal tax rates actually increased tax payments by "the rich" and also their total share of individual income taxes paid.

As most economists(who I'm sure you will paint as "right wing extremists", because they fail to agree with your left wing

agenda)high taxes discourage:

work, effort, savings, investment, and promote tax avoidance.

Following the Reagan tax cuts of

1981,tax payments in general, and the share of taxes borne by the top 1% climbed sharply. In 1981 the top 1% paid 17.6% of all taxes,by 1988, the top 1% paid 21.5%. Middle class(those between the 50th percentile to the 95th percentile)taxes decreased from 57.1% to 48.7%. Today, the top 1% pays an even greater percentage of taxes than in 1988.Taking more money from the most productive workers seems like punishing someone for their success. We know, all rich people were given their money, which I have repeatedly proven to you is a fallacy.

Joe, it isn't a matter of higher taxes, it's more a matter of cutting spending and balancing the budget.(ex:another $50 billion stimulus when 1/3 of the first stimulus hasn't been spent yet)

Cass, the US has the 2nd highest corporate tax rate in the industrialized world.