I have been watching the John Adams miniseries which ran a few years back and was reminded once again how critical taxes and taxation were in fomenting the crisis that led to the American Revolution.  At times, it seems, as if nothing has changed and that this one topic still incites such strong, partisan and–sometimes–unreasonable attitudes about something which has been with us for a very long time and will continue to be there for the foreseeable future.  It’s not as if we get as worked up with death, which, I am told, is the only other constant in our human endeavor.

According to the President, he feels he has a mandate to raise taxes on the wealthiest segment, although I’m not quite sure how a 51% popular vote margin translates into a mandate.  He points to polls which say there is support for raising taxes on the top 1% earners but I do not know how you can give too much credence to a poll which is basically asking whether you should raise taxes on the “other guy” and feeds on a myth that the rich do not pay their fair share.

But as even the NY Times recently pointed out, the US already has very steeply progressive rates as far as federal income taxes are concerned. Based on 2009 tax data, the top 1% of income earners already pay 37% of all federal taxes even though they take in 17% of income.  By focusing on the top bracket only, you are effectively leaving 83% of all income on the table, which suggests that wealth redistribution is the primary motive for the proposed increase, rather than deficit reduction.

If you were serious about deficit reduction, you would look to add a broader swath of the tax paying population to the tax discussion table.  Not popular, perhaps, but certainly sensible and–maybe even–fairer.  Unfortunately, it is a lot easier to talk about letting “Bush-era” tax cuts for the wealthy expire, than it is to talk sensibly about taxes.  Besides common sense, that would also take courage, both of which seem to be in short supply these days.