Tax fairness

The New York Times editorializes in favor of higher taxes:

To reduce the deficit in a weak economy, new taxes on high-income Americans are a matter of necessity and fairness; 

Neither assertion is true. With regard to necessity, the deficit could just as easily be tamed by slashing government spending. That may not be the preferred solution of the Times, but to pretend that no alternatives exist to higher taxes is simply inaccurate. As for the claim that higher taxes on the rich are required as a matter of fairness, the editorial board must operate under a peculiar definition of the term as revealed by these charts:

In other words, the wealthy already bear a wildly greater percentage of the tax burden than their percentage of income, have since been hit by a significant tax hike and are still viewed as the beneficiaries of an unfair tax system. Unreal. One can only speculate what percentage of income paid in tax would be sufficient to be deemed fair by the Times, or by what mental gymnastics they would arrive at such a figure.