>Re your opinion of progressive liberals, "there you go again," to quote a very influential American president <g>. (That was sincere, not sarcastic). I am on the liberal side of things, although not nearly as much so as the popular stereotype these days. Heck, anyone to the left of J. Edgar Hoover is painted as a socialist. I am not an elitist. I am not for big government, just a responsible safety net. I am not for relentless taxation, just a fair system where everyone pays their fair share. We're in la-la land these days about taxes. John Boehner, the Speaker of the House who seems to view himself as President, if not an unquestioned dictator, said flatly the other day that the recommendations of the deficit elimination panel cannot include tax increases. Oh, really, John? Now Obama has included in his new stimulus proposal a requirement that those who earn more than $1 million a year will have to pay the average tax rate. And you can bet there will be fierce resistance to even that tepid proposal. As a nation we are locked into a Robin Hood in reverse strategy. Why should anyone complain? The strategy of helping the rich get richer has been working so well so far (eyeroll).
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>Whatever happened to fairness? That's all I want. I don't want to punish the rich. I just think they should pay their fair share. Offloading it onto the least able, now that's objectionable.

Why is it that the very wealthy get to pay so little, as a percentage in taxes, while the regular so-called wealthy pay out the nose and the middle-class pays a good chunk too? Meanwhile 48% of all Americans pay zero taxes. When politicians talk about giving tax breaks to the poor I always ask, "How they hell can you reduce the taxes on people who don't pay taxes?"

Tax reform of any substance, unfortunately, I don't believe will ever happen.