It's pretty obvious that when you have a system where everybody thinks Warren Buffett is subject to a 38% tax rate and he's only paying 17% that there is something very real wrong with the system!
BTW, half his income isn't even subject to income tax and he pays nothing ~ some attribute that to charity ~ but for all anyone knows it's just simple evasion. We need more data. What that does, however, is lower his effective tax rate to LESS THAN 9%.
Recall, Warren is among the top 400 earners in this country. The others are not making any noise ~ do they, in fact, pay taxes at the highest rates? Or, do they totally evade the tax system and leave it to the guys who make a few hundred thou to a couple of million to pay all the taxes?
When you have a tax system designed from its very foundations to TAX ONLY THE WEALTHIEST and it fails to do that, then you get rid of it and come up with something else.
I'm afraid that the arguments for a Progressive Income Tax System are just so much BS designed to fool the public into thinking that everybody at the top is paying high income tax rates.
If someone sells their house after 20 or 30 years (of inflation) and the house has doubled or tripled in price, what should they be taxed at? Second question, apply the same to a long term investment in a corporation. What about short term gains, do you think someone who doubles their money in currency speculation should have their gain taxed as income? Last question, what would you do about double taxation of dividends (corporate income plus personal income), should dividends get any kind of break?