100% Tax on Rich Won't Solve Fiscal Crisis

But 100% tax on rich WILL kill the goose that lays the golden eggs!

Monday, April 18th, is Tax Day. And while half the country pays next to nothing in federal income tax, The so-called "rich" continue to pay the lion's share. The top 1% of wage earners (approx. $380k) pay 38% of income taxes. The top 10%, those making $113k or more pay 70%. Those below $33k pay less than 3%.

And yet, from Obama and the Democrats all we hear is the sad soak the rich refrain. Obama is still stuck on what he told Joe the Plumber in Ohio in 2008: "spread the wealth around." And in his speech last week raising taxes so he can continue the biggest federal spending spree in history was one reason columnist Charles Krauthammer described the speech as "disgraceful... shallow, so hyper-partisan and so intellectually dishonest."

Not Enough Rich to Pay Obama's Bills

But even if we agreed that Obama's wasteful, damaging spending plans were a good idea, the rich don't have enough money to pay for it. Consider the following chart and analysis from the Wall Street Journal:

Take 100% of the taxable income of those who make more than $114k and you only come up with $3.4 trillion. Not enough to pay for Obama's planned spending of $3.6 trillion this year. Of course you can't take 100% of a person's income and expect them to continue working. The Journal concludes:

The mathematical reality is that in the absence of entitlement reform on the Paul Ryan model, Washington will need to soak the middle class—because that's where the big money is.

Democrats try and claim that higher taxes during the Clinton era didn't hurt the economy. But that ignores the fact that federal spending at the end of the Clinton Administration was HALF what it is today. For all the Democrats who wail about current GOP cuts killing women and starving seniors, did that happen during the Clinton years?

The fact remains that we have a SPENDING problem, not a lack of tax contributions from the wealthy. And when Obama talks about "fairness" and expects the rich to pay more, is it fair for half the country to pay next to nothing? After all, as V.P. Joe Biden once said, paying taxes is "patriotic."

The alternative to higher taxes and ever more wasteful federal spending is the "Path to Prosperity" plan by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-MN). It's time to end the tax and spend gravy train! It's a road to disaster!