1) Making the "wealthy" pay their "fair share" to help other Americans seems very socialist and goes against the grain of what I think made and makes our country great. To me one of the core American ideals has been that if you work hard, anything is possible. Some of the tax payer funded social systems in place already undercut this ideal (welfare), but as a society, we do have a responsibility to help the less fortunate. Why should we punish someone for doing what it takes to achieve a certain level of success and the income that goes with it?
2) The way "wealthy" is defined. The number I've heard thrown around most defines wealthy as anyone who makes $250,000 or more per year. Wealth is a relative concept.... A single person making $250,000 may truly be wealthy and able to pay extra taxes. But, what about a family where the gross income is $250,000? Depending on where they live, they may just barely making ends meet by the time they make mortgage, tax, and day care payments then also address the basic needs of the family.
We barely squeak into the 6 figure category some years and I know we don't feel wealthy! But, there are people in different parts of the country would feel rich if they were suddenly making the equivalent income.
Once we set a threshold of "wealth" it is a slippery slope to gradually lower that number. I honestly think a better approach would be to revise and simplify our tax system. There are lots of loop holes both for corporations and individuals that drain a lot of potential income from the treasury. There is also a lot of waste in our system (medicare and welfare) that could be addressed.
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