The Founding Fathers would probably say "Income tax? Income tax? We didn't put no stinking "income tax" in this system! Get it out of there!"

BTW, you guys did hear that the "top 5%" bracket starts around $121K or $122K, right? That's "feelthy rich"?
I don't mind picking up the slack for folks in trouble , are ill or who have problems through no fault of their own.
It's the goof-offs that are able-bodied and reasonably intelligent that are basically along for a free ride that make me think twice about "progressive"

income tax. Some folks strive to achieve and some don't. So we should penalize the achievers and reward the slackers? Oh well.
Deja: "The main reason that 1 person can pay as much in taxes as 10 people is that he is actually making 10 times more."
As they say in the car rental biz.. "not exactly". The "progressive" system insures that the more you make the more you pay and it's not exactly linear. Depends on which income group you pick the 10 people out of, doesn't it? Take a guy at the top 1% of income and I'll wager he pays FAR more tax overall than 10 guys in the bottom 1% payer bracket.
...... end of random thoughts, please continue.