10 Ways to Force the Stinking Rich to Share Their Wealth

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Obama rightfully stepped in to stop this slide, proposing to hold the estate tax even at the levels from the end of the Bush era, instead of letting it go away altogether. This year's budget proposal would make the Bush-era estate tax permanent. But Obama could clearly do much more by simply restoring the estate tax to Clinton-era levels.

8. 

Tax Rich People for Social Security

Right now, any income you make in excess of $108,000 a year isn't subject to Social Security taxes. If Wall Street tycoons like Pete Peterson are so worried about the financial state of Social Security (which is currently projected to be totally fine through 2037), they can surely agree that millionaires should be taxed more in order to boost the program's balance sheet.

9.  

Raise Income Taxes on The Rich

Bush cut the tax rate for the wealthiest Americans from 39.8 percent to 35 percent. Obama plans to reverse this cut by simply letting the Bush cut expire at the end of the year. Bravo.

10.  Simplify the Tax Code

In 2008, Goldman Sachs paid a total tax rate of just 1 percent.The bank did this despite being one of the largest and most profitable banks in the country. Under any reasonable tax system, the bank would have paid the full 35 percent tax rate for the largest corporations. But the bank didn't do that. It pays lots of tax lawyers very well to sift through the massive U.S. tax code and find loopholes that will benefit Goldman Sachs, at the expense of the
United States .

The sheer complexity of the
U.S. tax code encourages this kind of behavior. It allows corporations and rich individuals, to take the time to exploit the system for their own advantage, and makes explaining this exploitation very difficult. That's why stories about taxes are always so technical and boring (apologies). Overhauling the tax code and imposing a simple, progressive system would end a lot of abuse. But don't hold your breath. Congress has always had the power to reconfigure the tax code. Instead, it has spent decades inventing new loopholes.