Probably around 40%-50% but make it extremely hard for them to find loopholes that will keep them from having to pay up.

Actually, the top 5% pay a bit more:

That's all federal taxes, BTW. If it were just income taxes, they pay 60%. Given that the top 5% only earn 13% of yearly incomes, I think that 44% of taxes is more than fair. Of course, it could be optimized with a loophole-less flat tax.

http://www.american.com/archive/2007/november-december-magazine-contents/guess-who-really-pays-the-taxes

This is only the top result during a google search, I'll be honest I don't know the reliability of this one source, but there are many others with numbers in the same area.

Here's the scenario, the Rich make alot of money, but they pay alot more in taxes. It's a common misconception that rich people get tax breaks, and lower percentages and get all the good deals while the little guy suffers. It's simply not true.

The rich people support you, and you all need to be grateful, however the typical American mindset has become "give me, give me, give me!" so you just want to take more. Look at the numbers and realize how damn foolish some of you are and be grateful the tax system isn't fairer, because if it were you'd all be paying more.

The percentage just below the line where aspiring to riches and wealth becomes pointless because you will be taxed well over 50 % annually.

The trick to a progressive tax structure is to keep the drive or rat race for wealth rampant, but not so low that the wealthy and rich become entitled to every penny they earn. Or so high, no one aspires to wealth because they see the wealthy paying so much of their annual income that being wealthy means working as hard as a school teacher in an inner city school district known for rampant gang violence.

I reckon income over a certain amount should be taxed at 50%. That is not the same as saying that the rich should be taxed 50%, of course.

25%. Suggest anything above that and you are a communist who supported the Khmer Rouge.

It doesn't >_>

The personal allowance is roughly £6,500, but it varies from person to person.

The higher rate comes in far too early. I would change the higher rate to 30% and really only introduce it on "luxury" income - perhaps £80,000. The additional rate really doesn't need to exist.

Anyway, your cousin should be earning around £48,000, if he earns $75,000..

That's £9130 tax.

19.125% tax. No idea where he got 43% from - to be paying that, he would need to be earning well over £150,000 per year.

On top of that comes National Insurance (11%) and Council Tax (miniscule), but it still shouldn't go above 30%.

Because it's an Income tax and not a wealth tax?

I used to scream "flat tax! flat tax!" but it's just not a reasonable stance. With the wealthiest 1% controlling more and more of America every year, it's gone completely out of control. The gap between even the middle class and the wealthiest Americans is red shifting far more than it ever should.

When 5% of Americans own nearly 2/3rds of our wealth, something isn't right with this country. It's gone from "work hard and you'll succeed" to "put yourself further in debt every year to maintain an equivalent lifestyle to your parents".

OT: if they earn 33% of all income, they should probably be paying somewhere around 66% of all taxes. They're making all that money on the backs of the American public. Giving some of it back to maintain the infrastructure that supports them won't kill their pocketbooks.

With that said, the entire government structure should be aggressively sliced down so EVERYBODY pays less in taxes.

That's a product of massive Governmental deficits being run, thus increasing inflation, far beyond what's reported. I don't think it's particularly fair to tax those who do well, to pay for the mistakes of the Government.