Taxing the rich makes them work harder...which is good for the economy...Consider:
Most "rich" aren't digging ditches all day...they have a "money stream" that gets going...and continues as long as they are "in the system"... the money just pours in from clients, customers or the government...as salary, fees, bonuses, royalties, rents, partnership distributions, commissions, dividends, capital gains...etc...
There is very little heavy lifting involved for the rich...and they just bank their money because they don't have any unmet needs...
And most "rich" have plenty of tax shelters and dodges...that lower their EFFECTIVE rates...for example hedge fund managers pay less percentage wise than their secretaries...as hedge funds are being taxed as if their income was capital gains... The "rich" make their money by organizing other people's work for profit...not by actually working themselves.
Additionally only the first dollar above 250,000 is taxed at the higher rate...under the Obama plan.
The estate tax forces the rich to donate their money ... in excess of several millions... this prevents an aristocratic class from taking over the country at some point...
Which may be happening even now...under the new campaign finance rules...
One thing that can be said...is that the rich are not having much trouble in America today...their "take" of the national income is at a record high...at levels unseen since the late 1920's or the Robber Baron Era in the 1880's...
