Are tax hikes on the way? Some federal lawmakers hope so. "It’s a great opportunity to get us some more revenue,” Sen. Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, recently said of the upcoming debate over the federal budget.

You know what that means: calls to raise taxes on the rich. Lawmakers can’t seem to refrain from eyeing the golden goose.

It seems fair to most Americans that those who earn more should pay more taxes. But how much more?

In a report that drew on 2006 tax data, Heritage Foundation scholar Curtis Dubay showed that a family in the top 20 percent of income-earners pulled in 50 percent more than a family in the next 20 percent, but paid 253 percent more in taxes.

Even more strikingly, a family’s income in the top 20 percent income bracket was 122 percent higher than a family in the third 20 percent bracket. Yet it paid a staggering 943 percent more in income taxes.

Are these huge differences justified? Do they help make America a more just society, or is their real purpose to help politicians win votes by redistributing other people’s incomes?

One way of making sure the rich pay more is through a proportional tax, also known as a flat tax. With a 10 percent flat tax, for example, someone earning $40,000 would pay $4,000 in taxes, while someone earning $80,000 would pay $8,000.

The United States, however, has a progressive income tax. The tax rate you pay depends on how much you earn. The more you earn, the higher your rate.

The people who pay the highest rates are often unfairly vilified, but they shouldn’t be. "In America, ‘the rich’ are overwhelmingly people — entrepreneurs, small businessmen, corporate executives, doctors, lawyers, etc. — who have gained their higher incomes through intelligence, imagination and hard work,” the late Robert Bork once pointed out.

Depriving these Americans of their hard-earned financial rewards through higher tax rates does not seem particularly moral. Rather, it seems unjust.

-Edwin J. Feulner, Ph.D. - The Heritage Foundation