What 'Tax the Rich' Gets You

Mike at the Big Stick points to a blog post by Iowahawk on the fallacy that taxing only the rich will solve anything. It's pretty tounge-in-cheek but the point is made: raising taxes soley on upper incomes won't solve our fiscal problems. Mike says it best:

The point is that while the rich are a convenient target for the Left it’s a fantasy to believe that raising taxes on them will create financial solvency. What is necessary, in my opinion, is raising taxes on all but the poorest Americans and cutting spending deeply. Anything else is pointless.

Indeed. Much has been said about the conservative fantasy that all fiscal problems can be solved by cutting the budget. But it is equally silly to think that "the rich can pay for it all."

There is saying that Americans want Swedish-style government at Mississippi-style prices. If we want to make sure that government is well funded and sustainable, then both sides will have to give up their fantasies and come up with some mixture of spending cuts and increased taxes accross the board. Anything else is a pipe dream.