So I had this idea to reduce the federal deficit. Basically, you find the percentage of federal spending that is deficit spending (basically, the stuff not covered by revenue and has to be borrowed), and you tax the income of the President and Congress at that rate, in addition to the regular tax rates. This would include both regular income and capital gains, and so long as the percentage of deficit spending is >0% they will not be able to take any deductions.
So, if the Feds spend $3.6 trillion, and they only bring in $2.4 trillion in taxes, they'd have to pay an additional 33% in taxes over the standard rates. That means that the tax rate for a member of Congress would be 66% for income and 48% for capital gains; for the President it would be 68% for income and again 48% for capital gains.
The beauty is that by adding it to the standard tax rate and disallowing any deductions, they will be loathe to simply increase taxes rather than decrease spending. The only trouble I can find with it is that it would be damn near impossible to get it passed.
Any thoughts?