Exactly. You nailed it. They pay more because they have more. That's how it was set up. You want them to pay a larger % and that isn't fair.
Are you saying that having the rich pay tax is fair, and having them pay more than the poor is fair, but having them pay a larger % than they currently do isn't fair? Well, then we agree on basic principle, and simply disagree on where to set the tax rate.
Why is the current 35% the limit? When Republicans used reconciliation to pass the Bush tax cuts, they set a 10 year limit on it, knowing that depending on the state of the economy and the state of the deficit, the tax cuts may no longer be appropriate.
And they were right, and todays Republicans are a whole different breed who can't see the practicality of that expiration under the current circumstances. 35% is really really low. Raising it to 39% Obama wants to set it back to is still really low, historically speaking.
A whole different problem is the capital gains rate at 15%. the richest people make most of their money in capital gains anyway, and are paying closer to 15% instead of the 35% for ordinary income. That's just wrong.
And you're correct. If the 99 people didn't earn those dollar bills then they don't get to take it simply on the belief that they don't deserve it as much because everyone hates rich people. All taxes are not wealth redistribution. Taxes are collected equally from all legal citizens to pay for things we all benefit from as a whole country.
It depends on how you look at it. We all use the same roads, but some paid more in taxes than others to fund those roads. The same could be said of defense, etc. Sounds like redistribution to me. As for Entitlement programs, they are designed not just to give people free money, but to benefit society as a whole. Republicans tend to only look at the abuse of those programs, and democrats tend to only see the positives of them. The truth lies in between, but overall, I think the richest country on earth without welfare, social security, or unemployment insurance would be immoral, and I think overall it works, despite some abuse.
Wealth redistribution just for the sake of it and taking from someone who warned more and putting it straight into the hands of someone who has Not earned it. That's an incredibly in accurate statement. "free" health care for example: trying to force those who have their own prvt health care they pay for themselves to pay for everyone else's healthcare who can't afford to pay for it or just don't manage their money well enough to pay for it. It's not for the whole country it's robin hood BS. If you aren't smart enough to make a million dollars, you aren't smart enough to make a million dollars... That's life. No one said it was fair.
People with private healthcare already pay for those who don't have it! The AHA (Obamacare)would actually help to fix that, by making people pay for what they will sooner or later need to have.
No one redistributes wealth like private healthcare insurance. And the first cut, right off the top, goes into the yachts and mansions of the executives. In some countries that is illegal and immoral.
But the best thing about social healthcare is that countries that have it have lower costs and better outcomes than we do. So it fits perfectly with what taxes should be used for, like you said: To pay for something that will benefit us all.