If i could set the rules, there would be universal salary caps, and any income above that had to be given in the form of stock in the company you work for, frozen in your possession for at least two years, to guarantee that incomes above a certain level were 100% dedicated to productive investment, though the ceiling for that would be at like $10 million annually.

Also provisions to seize 100% of income that people deliberately attempt to hide from taxes

The only way to get an income tax that low is to make minimum wage and work part time.  The average American is taxed 25%.

Forcing a company to pay people in stock wouldn't necessarily guarantee that the cash would go on to further production.  The most likely scenario is that companies would sit on larger cash reserves to carry them through lean times. 

Also, I don't see employees accepting such a system because if the company is issuing tons of new shares every year all the old shares would become seriously devalued... It's be like a yearly decrease in how much you make.

And the average american is grossly overtaxed!  10% to cover infrastructure and defense.  Everything else can be funded by a national sales tax.

You're probably right, but i would want to create some system where income over $10 million (or some other very high amount) was guaranteed to be productively, domestically invested (normally i'm not protectionist), but there needs to be a guarantee that top-tier income is improving lives domestically, while still providing a financial incentive for top earners to earn more than $10 million a year

engineering capitalism is difficult, but necessary

You're probably right, but i would want to create some system where income over $10 million (or some other very high amount) was guaranteed to be productively, domestically invested (normally i'm not protectionist), but there needs to be a guarantee that top-tier income is improving lives domestically, while still providing a financial incentive for top earners to earn more than $10 million a year

engineering capitalism is difficult, but necessary

 It's only necessary if you think we should be wasting money on things that are not competitive like ethanol or green energy. It works just fine they way it's meant to be.

Ideally, I would set it out something like this:

First $10,000 - Tax Free

Next $40,000 - 10%

Next $50,000 - 20%

Anything above - 30%

Britain's sytem is currently ridiculous.

Interesting.

According to all responses, so far, the rich are taxed too much. At least in America, anyways.