Any competant "wealthy" person pays nowhere near 50% income tax.  In fact, the alternative minimum income tax was implemented by conservatives to make the wealthy pay some taxes...  Sorry if you are the new rich who are ignorant of American tax law.  The old rich pay very little in taxes.

Offshore bank accounts such as in The Cayman Islands, Isle of Man, Lichtenstein etc. = zero tax on earnings.  This shifts a huge tax burden on the working class whether rich or poor.

Investment earnings are taxed way lower than wage income so again working people whether rich or poor are paying through the nose while people who sit on their butts at home collecting dividends and capital appreciations from other people's productivity pay very little tax.  In my case, I pay atleast 25% in payroll deductions but as an investor I would only pay 10% on that income.

Mortgage interest deduction is a huge regressive tax exemption that benefits the rich the most whose property is the most likely to accrue property appreciation.  As a renter, I pay my landlord's tax for him. 

The rich are also most likely to use tax exempt instruments like state and federal bonds.

The rich can deduct 50% of contributions to "charitable organisations" that they themselves can be rich.  A case in point is political lobbist organisations or commericial churches (televangelists being the most glaring abusers).

Then you got tax accountants and lawyers to cook the books for you.  Tax evasion offenders are the worst among self-employed individuals.  I've read one estimate where only 11% of taxes are paid on self-employment income!  The other 90% is buried in false business losses or inflated costs.  Only a very few get audited each year so there is a pervasive view among small business owners (60% of the economy) that they won't get caught.  I worked for many small businesses in California that people drove around in $50-$60K tanks at 2 MPG to bury profits.  Fair to the guy who works his ass off for a 10 year old Saturn?

The wealthy benefits from huge government outlays and pork barrel projects.  God I wish I was Haliburten and had the vice president as my former CEO, then bomb the hell out of a third world country, then have my buddies go in there and rebuild it for billions more.   I would love those kickbacks ferried away to my untraceable Swiss bank account.

The straight truth is the poor and the rich pay the least in taxes, the middle class pays the most and the wealthy and poor get the most out of the government.

Then you got all these small business owners getting fat off deliberately hiring illegal immigrants.  It is so bad in California that some employers discretely won't hire Americans or at a minimum you must speak Spanish to even be a janitor!  If you are an American citizen without a college degree you can't work in some industries and yes American citizens do want those Walmart jobs.  Sub-contractors paying under the table so they can evade payroll taxes.  Then you got all these illegals using services real wage earners are paying for while their hard working bosses drive around in their Yukon Denalis and Porche 511's...

I've lived in a gated community, shoveled manure on the farm, worked in a 120F+ frieght trailer, worked in a climate controlled office with catered meals and 80+ hr work weeks.  I hate to tell you guys who work in the comfy offices for long hours who think they have earned 100K's or millions in income, you haven't because you couldn't make one 12 hour shift in a 120F trailer.  So before you patronize the hard working Americans who actually "earn" their money and pay high taxes to boot, please think...

Finally 50% of all rich didn't work their asses off for it, they were born rich.  I admire those who have earned it but the lazy rich I have no respect for, sorry.  Also I do not respect what 30% of those who are rich because of the underground economy.

That makes the honest rich a meager 20% and guess what the other 80% are pushing their taxes on YOU, not the working poor!