Taxes, Taxes and jumping off cliffs

The NY Times has published a flurry of articles on the evolution of US tax policy, and just as importantly, tax rates actually paid over the 30 year stretch between 1980 to 2010.  It is a fascinating piece of work which concludes that the actual taxes paid by nearly most Americans are lower in 2010 than they were in 1980, so I guess we're not overtaxed today.  As expected, the more you make, the more benefit you got from falling rates.  Today the deficit (how much more we spend than take in) is growing which pushes the US national debt to scary levels. 

Their analysis suggests the top tax rate could be extended on incomes above $250,000 without harming economic growth, while admitting nobody knows exactly how much it could be raised before the 1% would start moving to Switzerland or stashing more cash in the Cayman Islands.

 The tax debate today is more about ideological dogma than practicality.  Maybe we need a better democracy, how about if the alternatives were put to a popular vote?  Or maybe the whimsical Warren Buffett solution, It was July 2011 when Warren Buffett joked on cable TV that he could end the federal government's spending “in five minutes. You just pass a law that says that any time there's a deficit of more than 3 percent of GDP, all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election.”  Well, I guess it was just a joke.