ABSTRACT
Democrats have long criticized the 1980s as the decade of greed, but it appears that the 1990s may end up as the decade of envy. President Clinton has used the guise of patriotism to reignite a class war as a means of turning his budget program into law. He wants a higher marginal rate for high earners and a surtax on those with the highest incomes. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Jim Sasser goes on to propose raising the top marginal rate still further, lifting the Medicare tax cap, and imposing a surtax on far more people. These proposals are based on simple demagoguery. The Reagan tax break, an across-the-board 25 percent rate reduction, provided more in tax cuts to the rich because the rich were paying so much more in taxes. It was simple fairness to provide someone who paid ten times as much in taxes ten times as much in tax relief.
