Soak the rich? Americans say go for it

[oldsoftie]

49. It works in Europe. Everyone pays SOMETHING.

And again, raise the rates to whatever you like, there still wont be NEARLY enough new money to pay for any of the programs that we want. Its just not there. When the top 20% are already paying nearly 90% of the income tax revenue, its just not going to get a lot of extra money
The total reported income in this country is around 10-11 trillion a year. We're already spending 40+% of that. Now the "unreported income" is a totally different number.
I dont really care of a consumption tax is regressive; send out a check of some size to those below "X" dollars of income. That'll level it out a bit. But I know SO many people who are stated income folks who NEVER claim their actual earnings. Many of them are pretty wealthy IMO. Sales tax is the only way to get EVERYONE. and its the only way to raise "real" money.

we should also consider the differences in the populations of these other countries compared to ours, but thats another OP