Should the wealthy pay higher income taxes?

UPDATE April 24: A deal between the ruling Ontario Liberals and the NDP would implement a surtax on the rich, allowing the provincial budget to be passed and averting a second election in seven months.

Premier Dalton McGuinty announced his minority Liberal government would apply a two per cent surtax to those making over $500,000, as requested by the NDP.

Original post, April 10:

U.S. President Barack Obama is setting the stage for his re-election campaign by urging lawmakers to increase taxes on the wealthiest Americans.

U.S. President Barack Obama has proposed a so-called 'Buffett rule' tax on the wealthy people as a key plank of his re-election bid. (Kevin Lamarque)Obama has thrown his support behind the so-called "Buffett rule," named after billionaire investor Warren Buffett, arguing that wealthy investors should not pay taxes at a lower rate than middle-class wage earners.

Buffett called on the government in August to increase tax rates for the very wealthy. Writing in the New York Times, he complained that his "mega-rich" friends had been coddled for too long and needed to pay more taxes.

Meanwhile, a left-leaning think tank in Canada says that a majority of Canadians - even wealthy ones - are behind the idea of raising income taxes on people who earn more than $250,000 and more than $500,000.

The Broadbent Institute says that 83 per cent of Canadians in a recent poll are in favour of that idea.

Do you think wealthy Canadians should pay more income tax than they do currently? Why or why not? Please share your comments below.





(This survey is not scientific. Results are based on readers' responses.)