Originally Posted by quicksteal

Wow, this tax thread got long fast. First of all, to answer the original question, Kerry wants to repeal the tax cuts of those earning $+200K. Increasing the taxes for millionaires would require creating a new tax bracket, which is something that Kerry is not trying to do.
Second, progressive taxes are good. If we didn't have progressive taxes, Wal-Mart would have all of our money by now. (For more in-depth arguments, see above.)
Third, the problem with the estate tax is that it hurts farmers. When grandpa, who owned the land, dies, he passes it on to papa. Then, the government wants a cut of the property value because it's part of the estate that grandpa passed on. Not only that, when the money in the bank changes hands, the government wants some of that too, even though grandpa was already taxed on it when he made it.
Finally, the reason that the upper-class tax cuts were good is because it pulled our economy out of recession, resulting in the shortest recession in American history, and current GDP growth that is just as fast as it was during the Clinton era. How this happened: rich people and companies invested in the economy, hired workers, and bought really expensive crap. Whether to keep the upper-class tax cuts now that we're out of the recession is a more difficult issue, but I believe they should stay in place for now, and at least for as long as the job market is not strong.