The Enlightened Rich Want to Be Taxed

[NJMaverick]

Quote:Some of the world’s wealthiest people are calling for higher taxes on the rich. They seem to recognize that the burden of the economic downturn cannot be borne entirely by the poor and middle class.

After the American billionaire investor Warren Buffett urged Congress last month to raise taxes on millionaires, the call echoed across Europe. Sixteen of France’s wealthiest individuals urged the government to raise their taxes. The Italian Formula One magnate Luca di Montezemolo publicly backed Mr. Buffett’s idea “for reasons of fairness and solidarity.” About 50 of Germany’s richest people have been campaigning for a higher top tax rate since 2009.

The suggestion is motivated, no doubt, by a sense of justice — that the very rich, who have survived the financial crisis very well, should contribute more to shrinking public coffers to reduce the spending cuts that would hurt the most vulnerable.

But altruism does not fully explain why members of the global elite are suddenly keen to prevent the deep budget reductions that will occur if governments don’t raise more money. They are also moved by what some might call enlightened self-interest.

Their walls may be high, but the wealthy live in the same world as the poor and the middle class, who have been walloped by unemployment and cuts to social welfare programs. When Mercedes-Benzes burned in Berlin and riots broke out on London’s streets, the rich were watching on TV.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/10/opinio....html?_r=1

[Peacetrain]

I want them to be taxed too! If we raised the SS tax to every penny a person makes.. because of the way we use excess SS funds in our general fund.. we would be out of much of our deficit problems overnight..

I heard an interesting stat on one of the TV programs last week.. John Stewart I think.. that while there is howling on the right about not taxing the wealthy.. that the poor need to be taxed.. that raising taxes on the top 2% would ONLY give us 800 million more.

Stewart pointed out.. that the bottom 50% combined wealth is 1.6 trillion.. so to raise 800 million on them we would have to take 50% of their wealth.

Can you imagine someone making 12.00 and hour, and now they have 6.00 .. that is what the uniformed wealthy class are asking for.. a pound of flesh.. literally