Higher Taxes for the Rich?

This is the question holding up the passage of a national budget in the United States.

On one side there's a newly re-elected President who championed that the rich, the upper 1-2% must go back to paying their fair share of taxes, the rate that they paid earlier, before the Bush tax holidays. With him is the Democratic minority in the House of Representatives, while the party holds a majority in the Senate.

On the other side we have the Republican party. It has blocked passing of the budget before, holding the entire country captive to the demand - no tax increases, better yet, no taxes at all and no spending either.

And then we have the American people. To some politicians they do not appear to matter in the national scheme of things. But:

"A majority of adults (58%) say that upper-income people pay too little in federal taxes. One-in-four (26%) say upper-income people pay their fair share in taxes, and 8% say they pay too much in taxes.

Even among those who consider themselves upper or upper-middle class, fully 52% say upper-income people pay too little. Only 10% of this group says upper-class adults pay too much in taxes."
Source: http://www.pewsocialtrends.org/2012/08/27/yes-the-rich-are-different/

So, most Americans are of the opinion the rich should be taxed higher, and the vast majority of the affected rich fully agree.

So, if the Republican majority in the House of Representatives continues its course they are assured that they are ignoring the majority of Americans and a large majority of their peers.

Two points about raising taxes for rich people:

1. I don't think I could name one single country, given the situation of a recession, bad budget situation and a worsening income gap, where taxes were not increased in various ways, including a sizeable tax burden for the rich.

2. The revenue from tax increases needs to be put to work to get the country back on track. Do some necessary infrastructure projects, invest with research and development in upcoming technological areas, improve _education_ from the ground up. With an industrial revolution ending, focus on a broad range of skills fostering creativity, imagination and soft skills together with hard skills from mathematics to agriculture. Not everyone is going to be a university professor or desk jockey. Instead of pursuing academic careers, students should be advised of the benefits of following hands-on vocational careers in service, production or maintenance industries. With some additional training, many of those choosing a vocational path are likely to start their own small businesses and generate jobs within their vocational fields.

Work on skills and know-how for the needs of the next five decades: clean technologies for power generation and transportation, environmentally friendly water generation and management, healthcare, modern organic (nonGMO) agriculture. Yes, people will still want clean and healthy food - as global warming changes agriculture.

Back to taxes, of course there are also these giant tax loopholes that cost the country billions, and need to taken care of.

Oh, there also were a couple of other campaign promises that need to be kept in mind (wall street, banks, ceo salaries, the environment and climate change).

I'll keep this article short. The answers are so easy. Its beyond comprehension that they could botch it up.

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Higher Taxes for the Rich?