Nancy Pelosi and her merry band say they want to raise taxes on people who make over $500,000 per year. The purpose of the proposed tax increase appears not to be not so much to raise government revenue, but to restore "fairness." (There is nothing fair about taxes, but that is beside the point.) It is interesting that the proposed tax increase would affect few Republicans in Congress, but would affect a lot of Democrats since there are a lot more rich Democrats than Republicans. I have thought about the impact of such a tax increase. It seems unlikely that many rich people would be affected by the tax since these guys are by nature effective "artful dodgers." I doubt such a scheme would increase goverment revenues. But it would help one class that Democrats are beholden to: Lawyers and other schemers who set up tax shelters. The tax would probably affect some rich athletes who are not very knowlegable about finances. Consider this; Senator Kerry's wife has a fortune estimated at $800 million to $1 billion, yet she paid taxes on an income of $2 million, as revealed in the recent Presidential election. Does anyone think that her total gain from her fortune was merely $2 million? And then there is Senator Kennedy. HIs wealth is reported to be in a trust fund in Fiji. I think it is clear that those folks who make a lot of money can do a lot to avoid taxes if the rate becomes onerous. So a tax increase on "the rich" is eyewash, and won't raise much rvenue, and may actually result in a reduction of revenue. But then, as some Democrats admit, the real intent of the tax increae on the rich is not to raise revenue.