Raise the income by how much? In the NW this issue has come for a vote several times but the wealthy keep pushing the 'trickle down economic' model and we (not me) vote it down.
I worked for a giant public accounting firm and in the mid-90's I saw a check to the IRS from Paul Allen for $7 million. I asked the sr. manager if that was his personal income tax and was told that was his estimated quarterly tax. Problem is that with our numbers increasing some 3 million a year and our infrastructure at a D- level, the pandemic, Climate Change and all the disasters that brings there still won't be enough money. Now we have the biggest deficit in history and the Democrats want it to go higher than the republicans are comfortable with. Funny how so many decry socialism but it seems that is what we have right now with all the bail-outs. At the 1994 UN convention in Cairo on overpopulation the motto came to be, no matter one's cause it will be a lost cause unless we come to grips with overpopulation. We haven't even come close and yet keep looking for other answers to our problems and also pointing fingers at everyone but ourselves.

@JackPedigo Fuck Paul Allen. He had plenty of money left. Fuck the Republicans too.

Not sure where you get that from... [taxfoundation.org] [howmuch.net]

@barjoe That was his personal income tax. His corporate tax was another matter. His partner, Bill Gates is a totally different person. In the beginning I did not like Allen. But as he aged, caught a deadly disease and saw his mortality he changed for the better. He has a family estate on this island. The family agreed to open it for visits this summer (at $250 a head) and it was a done deal, until...

@Captain_Feelgood 37% is the lowest to rate since they've had a graduated income tax. I think the rich should pay more than the commensurate amount of the wealth they control. They'll be fine. Jeff Bezos didn't pay any taxes in 2018. They've stolen our country. Corporate lobbyists have bought our governments. These people are the owners.

@JackPedigo I'm poor. I have no sympathy for the rich. I'm sorry Paul Allen had a deadly disease, I guess he couldn't buy his way out of that one. I couldn't afford the $250 to visit his estate.

@barjoe Wait... "I think the rich should pay more than the commensurate amount of the wealth they control." Not sure I follow you there. So if our Democrat voting buddy Jeff Bezos, who back in 2011 owned 12.6 billion in assets, (I assume that's what you mean by "wealth they control" ) what should he pay in taxes exactly? What percent?

@Captain_Feelgood I don't know how he votes. He's certainly not my buddy. He should pay more than zero. I would propose a 14.5% wealth forfeiture by everyone worth 100 million or more. In the case of Jeff Bezos that would come to around 15 billion. Got that idea from a very stable genius. [vox.com]

@barjoe Sooo,,, 14.5% of 12.6 billion,,,,, is 15 billion??? Okay,,, I can see (at least I hope) that was a typo. But still,, your math is still wrong, 14.5% of 12.6 billion is 1,826,999,999.9... And yes, Jeffy is a voting Democrat, as well as the top three richest people in the US..

@barjoe That all aside, I find it fascinating you would agree with a Trump idea...

@Captain_Feelgood I think it's fascinating that you care what I agree with. Trump pretended to be a liberal and was a Clinton supporter in 1999. I don't know how Jeff Bezos votes. Where do you get 12.6 billion?
Bezos was the first person in modern history to accumulate a fortune of over $100 billion — and he currently has a net worth of $178 billion Bloomberg estimates.6 days ago

So that would be Gates and Buffett? Probably. Bezos? Why because he owns Washington Post? Because they will endorse Biden? Independent journalism unlike bullshit like Breitbart, FoxNews Epoch Times, Washington Times.

@barjoe As I said before,, 'back in 2011 owned 12.6 billion'... but yea, he's over the 150 billion mark by now I'm sure. And for the record, 14.5 % of 178 billion is well over 25 billion, not 15 billion. My point is, if you did that to everyone in the top 1%, or even the top 10%, it wouldn't even scratch the surface of the national debt.. So what's the point?

@Captain_Feelgood It would've in 1999. They should do it just to make them pay. It could be earmarked to fund something. Maybe return the debt to Social SecurityTrust Fund. The national debt will never be paid off unless they manipulate the dollar and value down the debt. That would work BTW but it would cause a recession and hurt the world economy more than US. I think it would be worth it but nobody'd ever have the balls. The dollar would come back near where it was eventually. Then pass a balanced budget amendment.

@barjoe Unfortunately, that feeling and that poverty is increasing in what is supposed to be the richest country in the world (BS). Even here we have homeless. That situation is even getting worse and everyone has an idea of why and everyone has a solution. So far little seems to be working. It is so frustrating to see this happening here.