On the recordJuly 6, 2011
Sure. And on that last point, it makes a larger point. When Congress tries to get the millionaires and the billionaires, those are the very people who can adjust their way of earning and of giving and of living so that they end up paying less in taxes. That is why it doesn't much matter what the rate of taxes is at the upper income. They are never going to pay more than a certain percentage, because they can afford the lawyers and the accountants to make sure that they don't pay more. It is the people in the middle income who can't do that, and they end up paying up what the IRS says they owe, and they can't adjust their way of living and giving in order to pay less in the way of taxes. Whatever deductions they get, they get, and they are going to have to live with those. When we try to hit the upper income with higher rates, it generally doesn't work. That is another reason why we think it is an ineffective way.
