TwoSwords is correct, the elites don’t pay much in the way of taxes. It’s the middle class who bears the tax burden, and the Chinese. The chinese (and other countries to a lesser extent) have been subsidizing the artificial U.S. Government way of life for years. Let’s not forget we’re running TRILLIONS in defecits, and that it’s being paid for by foreigners.
The top 1% of income earners paid $400B in Federal Income Tax in 2008, out of $2.5T income. And that doesn’t even count the portion of the $300B in corporate taxes that could be attributed to them as shareholders in corporations. You consider that “not much” in taxes. 1% of the people paying 40% of the income tax is somehow “not much” ? This 1% earns only 20% of all income, but pays 40% of the income tax, while 50% of the people pay NOTHING. You need to go to IRS.gov and look at the tax stats before you spout such nonsense as “the elites don’t pay much in the way of taxes”.