This is not socialism it's common sense. It just doesn't make sense to tax the middle class but not the rich. the rich can afford to pay higher taxes it doesn't hurt them at all. but this country cannot keep on depending on the middle class to keep on paying taxes. the rich have to start picking up the tab as well
Top 5% pay 53.25% of all income taxes (Down from 2000 figure: 56.47%). The top 10% pay 64.89% (Down from 2000 figure: 67.33%). The top 25% pay 82.9% (Down from 2000 figure: 84.01%). The top 50% pay 96.03% (Down from 2000 figure: 96.09%). The bottom 50% pay 3.97% of all income taxes. (*IRS.gov)
So in essence , what the Obama plan is says is that we need to take from the people who are already paying the most taxes so that those that are not paying them so we can have more social programs and a tax break? Let's see, I know I have been down this road more than once, but, when someone is taxed in a business, that tax is passed on to the consumer. For example, you ask how are taxes going to go up for the middle class? It's actually very simple. Obama places a "windfall profit tax on oil" , that tax will go directly to the price of gas at the pump causing the price of gas to increase by the same percentage as the tax hike. So you the consumer are paying for it, as you will be in increased costs for food, and others goods and services that depend on fuel. The same can be said for every so called "patriotic" tax on corporations. The other intresting and short sighted thing thats rarely talked about here, is the fact that these companies will compensate in other ways as well. You don't like your jobs being outsourced for cheaper workers offshore? Well this is one sure way to give a company the incentive to move more jobs offshore, increase the cost of doing business in the United States with tax increases. The primary reason that Obama wants to increase taxes on the wealthy is not because he has some deep feeling about you, it's because he has no way to pay for the untold billions of dollars in new social programs he plans to implements unless he does increase taxes. With the economy in bad condition , the proposal to increase taxes on business and top wage earners that already pay over 70% of those taxes anyway, is very short sighted and extremely dangerous for this country.