As much as America is seemingly dysfunctional, its ability to right itself is never in doubt as long as it has dauntless patriots with derring-do enough to take the bull by its horns and willingly combat the inequalities of their society through pronounced acts of commendable sacrifice (I'm in the 1%, please raise my taxes, June 28).

Mr Eli Broad, American philanthropist and entrepreneur, is not the first person to perceive the iniquity of his country's inequitable tax system. Both Mr Warren Buffet and Mr Bill Gates had also previously sounded the alarm bells and professed on record that rich people like themselves should pay more taxes.

Where worldwide the top 1 per cent wealthiest people own 85 per cent of global wealth and chief executives no more earn simple multiples of what the workers in the same organisation earn but hundreds of times in excess, it is an appropriate clarion call that needs to be heeded and acted upon.

Our Government can fulfil its social covenant with Singaporeans by providing for most housing and healthcare needs while also lowering the nation's somewhat high Gini Coefficient by redistributive policies, but our rich can and should contribute far more in taxes on income and investments.

Wouldn't it be singularly nationalistic that, beyond contributing to charity and other cause-worthy institutions, establishing foundations for the common good and providing funds for notable agenda, the Midasesque set in Singapore also came out unequivocally in favour of higher taxes for themselves?

It is entirely politically and socially correct for the wealthy in Singapore to volubly sound their advocacy and support of this movement for our nation, and it will leave a sweet name for themselves in posterity.

Yik Keng Yeong (Dr)