Increased Taxes for the Rich?

Last updated on March 4, 2013

The fact that the rich are now paying higher taxes comes as a surprise because most of us do not think of the rich as being abused in a tax system that notoriously favors the wealthy.

President Barack Obama is reluctant to raise taxes for any tax bracket, except the rich, “I am prepared to do hard things and to push my Democratic friends to do hard things,” Obama said Friday. “But what I can’t do is ask middle-class families, ask seniors, ask students to bear the entire burden of deficit reduction when we know we’ve got a bunch of tax loopholes that are benefiting the well-off and the well-connected, aren’t contributing to growth, aren’t contributing to our economy. It’s not fair. It’s not right.”

Politicians have often targeted the wealthy for tax increases because their income grows at a rate much higher than middle and lower-income groups. The government is looking for ways to bring down the national deficit, using both revenue and spending cuts. For increased revenue, Democrats in power have asked the rich to pay more taxes because.

There has been a proposal by Senate Democrats to raise taxes for the rich to avoid the automatic spending cuts both parties agreed to in 2012. The proposal was blocked by Republicans and the automatic spending cuts took effect over the weekend. The debate has not died and will not do so in the near future because Congress still needs to tackle the deficit.