The results of the shrugging off taxes by the rich are apparent all around us. Crumbling infrastructure. Horrible schools. Bankrupt local governments.
The top 1% of households own 34% of the wealth in the United States (source: United for a Fair Economy). The top 1% in the United States has 50% of the income. Quoting from L-Curve.org:
Some doctors and lawyers and professional people, with incomes over a hundred thousand dollars may feel "rich". They may have nicer homes and cars, and they may have attitudes that separate them from the masses. But they still must work for a living and are primarily consumers of their earnings. Whether they recognize it or not, they actually have more in common with the people at the bottom than they do with the people in the top 1/2%.
Besides the income and property tax cuts for the wealthy, we were also somehow convinced that cutting capital gains and estate taxes was a good idea. Higher capital gains taxes will restabilize the economy. When an investor knows he will be taxed when he cashes out of a stock, he is more likely to keep it invested, letting his money "ride." Estate taxes only affect those estates of two million dollars or more, and helped to break up the wealthy dynasties in the last century. Contrary to the lying Repugligan propaganda, no family farm has ever been lost due to estate taxes. Let's raise capital gains and estate taxes back to the levels of the 1950s.
Incomes of over two million dollars should be taxed at the marginal rate of 90%, just as they were under President Eisenhower. Your first two hundred thousand per year will be taxed at 30%. Above that, up to your first million per year will be taxed at about 50%. How many millions do you need per year? We should also close the loopholes so that the very rich can't legally avoid taxation.
We also need to pass the California Majority Rule Initiative so that the legislature can carry out the will of the people to tax the rich for their fair share. They have shrugged enough!