Being that I live in a socialist country, I'll throw out my tax-free two cents:
Wealth inequality and redistribution cannot (and should not) be remedied by adjusting taxation alone. If America wants to continue with prosperity and avoid going to hell in a handbasked, she should consider further mixing her economy à la style Canadien.
- Adopt a national healthcare system modelled after Tommy Douglas' revolutionary vision;
- Fix, revitalize, or bloody well completely rebuild the labour laws (use Ontario's as a model if you must);
- Use more government intervention to protect certain industries of lower-income, skills-based earners (i.e. manufacturing, agriculture, certain services, etc.);
- Penalize (or increase penalties for) corporations who violate labour standards, or who use unsavoury practices to bust unions or plans for establishing unions;
- Rewrite immigration policies to help with the decriminalization of hard-working immigrants.
This is just a few ideas. I would also like to point out that although the wealthiest of people pay the majority of tax, I believe that this is essential because of how that wealth is created: generated by the hard work of low-income workers. But paying less tax should not mean receiving fewer services. Government services should be equalized to ensure a basic health and well-being of all citizens.
America needs to rethink her budget to stop an increasing wealth disparity. Her military budget is simply ridiculous. Her education budget, ludicrous. Now don't get me wrong; I'm not saying Canada is perfect, nor would I say she is the best nation in the world, but there is a reason why it has been said that Canada is one of the best places in the world to live. The socialists have had a hand in that. A mixed economy and a mixed political system encourages stability and prosperity. America could use a healthy dose of that to help improve the quality of life overall.