Tax Principles

IMnsHO:
1. Low marginal rates: DO NOT Disincentivize Ambition and Earning.
2. Progressive rates, subject to 1. all of them.
3. Married or Single should not matter: Deductions based on number of people dependent on that income. Count home ownership as 1 person, count infant as 1.5, under 16 as 1.25.
4. Cap on total deduction claimable. No mortgage interest deduction - housing already covered in 3. above.
5. Exempt Investment cash inflow/profits within the total cap in 4. above. Beyond that:
6. All income and gains beget the same tax rate as work. Give few thousand dollars extra exemption on passive income to people near on in retirement, But:
7. Cuts in Entitlements begin with current seniors. They, after all, have repeatedly sent the spendthrift representatives into lawmaking, so cannot, should not, go simply untouched. But:
8. Cut corporate-executive welfare before Entitlements.

9. INCREASE Spending on the Young and Research and Infrastructure.

A tax fix cannot be as soulless and Principleless as "increase rates on the wealthy". It will not return good result.
Some well off pay lower effective tax rate than their Secretaries - and that is quite a tragedy. The action lies in plugging the special treatments and loopholes, while trying to reduce marginal rates. Adding marginal rates makes those that are already paying progressively getting hit even more. Similar tax preposterity also exists within the middle classes. It is better to do a Principled plugging of these tax bucking than raise rates. Raising rates is like helping the undocumented before the documented tax contributor workers.

Nor can a solution be in simply "rob the old and the very young"; or "make the current crop of workers pay in more, while they will likely get less in Entitlements when they retire."
Better to give the current workers some consolation/empathy cut in Payroll taxes if they are likely to receive less when they will retire. And better to cut Corporate-Executive welfare before Entitlement payments.

And we haven't even mentioned the taxes that have been collected from the immigrants who have to leave as their permits expire, after contributing all these years to retirement of the currently old, with the Entitlement credits on their Social Security Statements rendered meaningless. The tax deal has to also have an offshoot into Immigration fix to render justice unto the people that have been diligently contributing in the private economy, as also to tax collections: payroll taxes, income taxes, sales taxes, vehicle registration taxes, highway taxes, and what have you.

Fair taxation, Fair immigration, Gun purge - These are important. Upon doing these, the Economy will take its time to heal and grow; But not taking the high road in these issues will finish it.