You gotta squeeze every penny.

Well this makes sense. Force people to pay more for the privilege of being american. It's not like they have any other options. It's not like americans have been giving up their citizenship are records rates. Just keep forcing them to pay more and more, and they'll just keep paying it. If there's anything rich people are known for, it's being very easily parted from their money. O no wait. First off 50% of americans already pay 0 income taxes. And i'm not sure what percentage exactly, but a large percentage of those who pay no income taxes actually receive refunds from the government despite having not paid taxes. That's in addition to foot stamps/welfare/etc. So Mr. geithner the rich are already paying more for the privilege of being american, in fact they are the only ones paying for the privilege. Everyone else in america is being paid just to be alive. What a great job they are doing being alive, clearly we should be giving them more money and taking more from the wealthy. Britain has just gotten the first results back from their attempts to increase the income tax rate to 50%. Income tax receipts in the country have fallen as more of the wealthy have moved themselves and/or their assets out of britain, and away from its taxes. So by all means US follow suit. Rich people are rich for a reason, because they are smart about their money. I can sympathize with the desire to tax them more, but if you do they will figure out a way to avoid the taxes. Either they are smart, or they pay someone who is smart (or probably both) to avoid paying for the privilege of being american, and many would be more than happy to move their wealth elsewhere.