T.E.A. - Tax the Elite, Already!

Editors Note: This has been sitting in draft state since last fall (2010). I don't need to add too much to it, but this is basically what's going on today with the phone debt ceiling crisis negotiations.

If you ask defenders of the current tax code why it's so important to have low marginal tax rates on the rich, why capital gains should only be taxed at 15 percent, or why they shouldn't pay any FICA tax after they've already earned $107,000, you will get one of two responses - the trickle down argument or the spending argument.

If we "overburden" the wealthy with too many taxes, they won't invest in things that "create jobs." It's the attitude that supply creates economic activity.

The spending argument is far less complicated, but leads to a moral discussion. The defenders will say that if we raise tax revenues, the money will only go to pay for inefficient social programs that provide incentives for lazy individuals to remain lazy on the government's dime.