On what shape of tax increases work best

I had lunch today with a bunch of retired people; I'm pretty sure I was the youngest one there. Most of the group agreed that President Obama's (and Warren Buffett's) proposal to raise taxes on the wealthiest is a no-brainer. But one of the other men disagreed. He (like me) would pay higher taxes under the President's proposal, and (unlike me) he was not happy about it. "It is easy for you guys to say that someone else should pay higher taxes while you get a free ride; but I already pay a much higher rate of taxes on my income than you do." Essentially he was saying that he would only support a tax increase if the burden was shared. He seemed to think that it would be much fairer if we just rolled back the Bush tax cuts so everybody paid a bit more.

And this is my only problem with Buffett's proposal to raise taxes on incomes above $1M, and only those. I don't think it raises enough money to really make an impact on deficits or allow the infrastructure investments that we really need (and which could boost employment). And almost all of those who have to pay it, will resent it deeply, which leaves a very small constituency for passing it. In other words: The proposal is not a realistic legislative proposal, but ammunition for the election battle.