Lest anyone be misinformed, lets be clear on the truth about taxes:

According to the Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States using the latest figures (1999) available from the Internal Revenue Service:

Those taxpayers who earn less than $26,415 Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) paid less than 4% of all income taxes collected.
(These figures do not include the many citizens who pay no tax and may be receiveng the "earned income credit" meaning the IRS pays them.)

The so-called wealthy, the top 5% of taxpayers, who earn more than $120,846 AGI paid more than half (54%) of all income taxes collected.

The top 50% of taxpayers, who earn more than $26,415 AGI paid 96% of all income taxes collected.

1999 AGI
1% 36% $293,415
5% 54% $120,846
10% 66% $87,682
25% 84% $52,965
50% 96% $26,415

Since the tax reform act of 1986 there have been no loop-holes.

Here's a little story that might help you understand the truth about the Tax Cut:

Let's put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that
every day, ten men go out for dinner. The bill for all ten comes to $100.
If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like
this:
The first four men -- the poorest -- would pay nothing; the fifth
would pay $1, the sixth would pay $3, the seventh $7, the eighth $12, the
ninth $18, and the tenth man -- the richest - would pay $59.
That's what they decided to do. The ten men ate dinner in the
restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement -- until
one day, the owner threw them a curve (in tax language, a tax cut).
"Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce
the cost of your daily meal by $20." So now dinner for the ten only
cost $80.00.
The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes. So
the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But
what about the other six -- the paying customers? How could they divvy
up the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his "fair share?"
The six men realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they
subtracted that from everybody's share, Then the fifth man and the
sixth man would end up being PAID to eat their meal. So the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man's bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.
And so the fifth man paid nothing, the sixth pitched in $2, the
seventh paid $5, the eighth paid $9, the ninth paid $12, leaving the tenth
man with a bill of $52 instead of his earlier $59. Each of the six was
better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free.
But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their
savings. "I only got a dollar out of the $20," declared the sixth man who
pointed to the tenth. "But he got $7!". "Yeah, that's right," exclaimed the
fifth man,
"I only saved a dollar, too, ........It's unfair that he got seven
times more than me!". "That's true!" shouted the seventh man," why should he get $7 back when I got only $2? The wealthy get all the breaks!". Wait a
minute," yelled the first four men in unison, "We didn't get anything at
all. The system exploits the poor!"
The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up. The next night he
didn't show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him.
But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered, a little late what
was very important. They were FIFTY-TWO DOLLARS short of paying the bill!
Imagine that!
And that, boys and girls, journalists and college instructors, is how the
tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the
Most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.
Where would that leave the rest? Unfortunately, most taxing
authorities anywhere cannot seem to grasp this rather straightforward
logic!
T. Davies
Professor of Accounting &Chair,
Division of Accounting and Business Law
The University of South Dakota
School of Business