Take from the Rich and give to the Poor?

We recently discussed whether or not the rich should be taxed more and the poor have more tax benefits in American Studies. We discussed whether or not a rich person should be punished for working hard or if that rich person is even working hard. There are many ways to become rich without working hard, and many ways to be poor even though one is working hard. For instance, maybe there should be an inheritance tax and tax benefits from working more than one job. I feel that it is not fair to tax a person who truly worked extremely hard to get to where they are in life. If one worked an 80 hour work weeks and made 1 million dollars a year and got taxed heavier than a person who doesn't work and lives off of welfare there is a problem. Also, if there is just one cut off deciding who is rich and poor, and that cut off is $250,000 and a person who makes less than that is 'poor' and a person who makes more than that is 'rich' that is a problem as well. If the people making over $250,000 are taxed at a 33% income tax and the person making below that is only taxed at 15% income tax a person making only $240,000 really makes $204,000 and a person making 260,000 really makes 174,200. I think that that is insane. How does a person making more money end up with less after taxes? I think the percentages for one should be closer together, however I do agree the rich should be taxed slightly less, and that there should be more categories instead of just two. People barely making enough money to live and are working should be barely taxed, so that they can make money and are not set up to fail. In an idealistic world there would be many solutions to this solution, however we live in the real world; there is no perfect solution to this problem.  

Teachers and Politics

In American Studies we had a discussion about teachers and whether they should or should not discuss politics. I believe that they should be able to discuss politics in the classroom, however, they should not solicit their views and opinions to the students. That doesn't mean they shouldn't tell the students their views though, because if the students aren't sure which party the teacher supports, they will be confused as to what the teacher truly means when they make a statement.