Seattle’s income tax on the wealthy is illegal, judge rules

Seattles revenue growth in the past 5 years was like 30% YoY. Considering how much more revenue they get today, the first question is why dont they just lower the sales tax. Where is all this new money going?

There is no such simple point.

Astrid Lindgren continued to live in Sweden even when her marginal tax rate was 102%.

On the other hand, some people leave to avoid paying taxes even if they do not have a high income.

The NYT article you pointed to tells me that the marginal tax rate should be quite high for those making, say, 10x minimum wage. Otherwise there is too much concentration of power. It's much easier to pander [] to the rich, simply because they are few and influential, at the expense of the poor whose voting power is great but diffuse.

([] I use "pander" as the opposite of your "target". I also use "pander" to describe when a government offers tax breaks for Wal-Mart or other large companies to come in, at the expense of unsubsidized local businesses, or in a race-to-the-bottom competition with neighboring governments.)