Whenever I hear "well, they pay the majority of - the taxes in this country"

How about the one "Well they create all the jobs"? nm - VTMT

Yeah...jobs for bankers, lawyers, lobbyists, congressmen - and hedge-fund managers. nm

A very slyly written piece with several core items of - information omitted and others obfuscated.

We hate the fact that they are getting rich - off of us

When just 15 people accumulate more wealth.... - sm

You're quite wrong, of course. - sm

Nope. No envy here. I do quite well.... - sm

No, there are moral people who are rich - Nick Hanauer for example

They do NOT pay 60% tax - perhaps only the amount over $400,000

You misunderstand. Not 60% of their income. 60% - of the tax dollars collected by the US.

And yet they still do not pay the same percentage - of their income as we do

First of all, if you read the article you see that this "private tax system" - is exploited by a relative few of the wealthy.

I know how difficult it is to penetrate the fog of this article, but let's not think that "all the wealthy do this", okay?  It simply isn't true.

As to percentage of income paid, in 2013 the CBO states that the top quintile of earners paid 29% average, while the bottom quintile paid 2%. 

As to the total dollars of income tax paid into the federal government in 2013, it looks like this:

Take the top 3 rows (the lowest income groups) and add them up.  They comprise just over 63% of the returns filed, and they contributed only 6.2% of the total tax revenues received.

Now, take the bottom 3 rows, the top income groups.  These people represent only 15% of the returns filed, and yet they paid in over 77% of the tax revenues collected by the government.

Oops!  Looks like our tax code is already pretty progressive.  And please note, these are ACTUAL DOLLARS PAID IN as reported by the IRS, so any form of tax shenanigans have no relevancy here.  These are the dollars that were actually paid in, AFTER any and all tax reduction methods, tricks, shenanigans, loopholes or whatever were employed. In other words, checks written to the US Treasury and cashed.

It will be a very good thing when everyone like you no longer permit yourselves to be led around by the nose by class-envy merchants like Bernie Sanders.  Realize that they have absolutely NO interest in telling the WHOLE truth, and are heavily invested in you believing lies and half-truths.  Learn how to investigate the facts for yourself, better than you're doing now.

And I'll tell you something else.  We've seen the impact of high taxes on the wealthy and on corporations in this country, if you would care to look into some history of taxation.  And what happens when you squeeze them too far, they do one thing, invariably:  They simply head for the exits.  They take their money and they take their companies (in both cases, meaning jobs), and they go somewhere where there aren't quite so many greedy fingers in their pockets.

So would I, and so would you.  You might say you wouldn't and some would believe you, but millions won't.

Ask the guy who works making yachts or the guy who earns his bread constructing luxury homes if they want to see MORE yachts and MORE luxury homes being constructed, or FEWER.  Then, ask them if they'd like to see them being constructed here in the US, or in some other country.  

We don't have to guess what they would say, do we?

It's all a matter of perspective, now, isn't it?  You just don't happen to work building yachts.  You don't build luxury homes.  You don't sell Manhattan condominiums.  You don't cut diamonds.  You don't operate a bed-and-breakfast in Carmel. How do I know these things?  I'll let you guess.  Your class hatred and envy simply drip from every one of your posts.

Let me give you another bit of tax wisdom, from Judge Learned Hand.  It describes the legal obligation of the taxpayer - rich or poor - with respect to the tax code succinctly:

"Anyone may arrange his affairs so that his taxes shall be as low as possible; he is not bound to choose that pattern which best pays the treasury. There is not even a patriotic duty to increase one's taxes.  Over and over again the Courts have said that there is nothing sinister in so arranging affairs as to keep taxes as low as possible. Everyone does it, rich and poor alike and all do right, for nobody owes any public duty to pay more than the law demands."

I do NOT care if the very wealthy leave the country - they might as well

Your chart just proves that the bulk of taxes paid - are those over $250,000

What??!! The chart represents a product of 2 numbers. - Sheesh.