No because I know they make more and can afford to pay more, and what's more worthwhile is exactly relevant, this isn't about fairness, this is about who can pay more and who can generate more tax revenue for the govt. On both counts its the rich.

Also I don't think you get it:

The way charitable donations affect the amount of taxes owed is in the form of an itemized tax deduction. When someone pays their taxes, they start out with with gross income, which includes all money they've earned throughout the year. First special deductions are made, known as above the line deductions, after which gross income becomes net adjusted income. From net adjusted income, a taxpayer can choose to deduct a standard deduction, which is based on their income demographic, or all of their itemized deductions, which includes charitable contributions. Itemized deductions are subtracted from net adjusted income to arrive at one's taxable income--the income pool from which taxes are ultimately taken. Therefore, the more charitable donations that are made, the smaller the pool of money that is deemed taxable income, which is how they save tax money.

By giving more money to taxes, you reduce your level of taxable income, hence, if you make 200K and are able to reduce your taxable income below 160K, you don't pay the $39,148.75 plus 33% of the amount over 160,850, you pay the $15,698.75 plus 28% of the amount over 77,100

Only way to fix this is there are different prices for the poor.
so you pay $400 for a Flute, but if you are poor, pay $200. that would be fun.

I'll pay the poor guy to buy me things.

Isn't this thread just stating the obvious? If you have less money, it takes more percentage of your money to purchase a product than someone who has more.

Here's an idea: Why don't the poor get off their asses and stop crying "Gimme! Gimme!" and do some good ol' hard honest work?

The only thing stopping anyone from becoming a millionaire is themselves. I don't care if you were born poor, and raised poor, nothing is stopping you from succeeding in life.

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish and he will eat for a life time.

Handouts won't solve everything.

 Actually a lot of poor do work honest jobs, but there is always someone who will be poor, however that's irrelevant, society is better off with a well fed, well educated and in good health population.  That's why the government has a role to play in helping those at the bottom of the ladder, as a worker who is well fed and healthy and trained will be more productive

But your still giving more money away they your "saving" in tax savings.

 Actually, it was said tongue-in-cheek.

 I'll tell ya, the guy getting up driving an hour to work, having to be there 12 to 15 hours each day, unloading trucks, having to memorize all 800 items on those trucks, then going and cleaning the toliets, scrubbing the patios and sidewalks, and staircases, making sure that the grounds are spotless, then having to drive another hour back home at the end of their twelve hour day (that they have to work to stay in good standing with the bosses) five days a week with only two holidays off throughout the year for $8.00 an hour is doing much more work than some cpa with his feet up on a desk all afternoon.

That's how we stay first world countries. We keep other countries down. No difference there between the USA and the EU. We are ruining the farmers in africa by exporting milk and chickens to cheaper prices than they can produce.

The only difference is, that the USA exported too much corn to mexico, ruining their local supply and now can't keep the US-prices low, due to too less corn production, when some of it is used to produce energy. The EU had earlier actions taken on the problem of high oil prices, so it didn't hit us that hard.

As food prices with lower energy prices in a crisis, won't be a big problem for some time, you shouldn't create the next one.

The problem is now, that if first world countries start to protect themselves from each other, all of them will suffer. Why is that? Europe can export less, the US can export less, we get bigger problems, but you get even bigger problems because the EU then wants the money, it lent the US, back. So this is no solution.

There are as always many other reasons for higher food prices, like no(/ not high enough) taxes on food-/ energy-speculation, but I think the one above is the main one.

Typically, people who earn "low" wages (under about $15 an hour) are people with little education, little experience, who do unskilled jobs with little responsibility, and are easily replaced. At least locally, you can't hire a general labourer or warehouse worker for less than (about) $15 an hour who would show up to work on time and sober; of course, I live in one of the most conservative regions in Canada, where (even in the recession) there are more jobs than people because we don't try to punish business owners for making money and employing people, so it may be drastically different elsewhere.

Now, what people don't understand about the reason why office workers generally make more than their labourers is that the office worker is higher educated, has a much rarer skillet that is in much higher demand, has more responsibility, and makes many more decisions which have a far higher impact on the company as a whole. If the labourer you describe is a poor employee the trucks get unloaded a little too slowly and the place isn't that clean, while if the CPA you higher is a bad employee you're investigated by the SEC, your stock value plummets, and the brand you've spent 50 years developing is destroyed by a single employee.