The dollars taken away by the Government nor the dollars remaning after the Government has taken away a portion is not germane. Would you rather have 97% of your salary remaining or 79%.
To say that the larger dollar figure is better just because it is bigger is essentially saying that money equals happiness. We know that is not true. Further such a simplistic statement ignores a significant number of other issues. For Example Al Gore falls into the second category under discussion here and we know he has been spending as much as 20 other homes in his neighborhood for electricity alone.
If you remember in my post I related the two different tax figures to a situation outside of either person, I chose myself, and in one case it is a mortgage payment in the other two cars that are confiscated for taxes.

The point is that you think that paying a greater share of the tax burden is FAIR if you have more money and paying the same rate is somehow unfair. That implies the only way you would be happy is if Mr Rich Person after paying his tax bill had $14550 left. I on the other hand believe that paying the same rate is fair.
Having said that I feel compelled to state that I favor the truly voluntary tax called FairTax over what we have and any Government driven fixing thereof. And any VAT tax is even worse than the awful system currently existing.

Quote Originally Posted by Thorne View Post
Sorry Duncan, but I have to argue with your numbers here. The question is not how much someone is paying in taxes but how much does he have left AFTER taxes.

The blue collar guy making $15000 per year will have only $14550 left after paying his 2.99%, but the millionaire will still have $816816 left. A very big difference. Which would you rather have?