Yes, the rich pay more in taxes (because they earn so much more) — but they don't usually pay more as a percentage of their incomes.

According to a new report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, in nearly every state, low- and middle-income families pay a bigger share of their income in state and local taxes than wealthy families. Patricia Cohen wrote in her very detailed and comprehensive article at the New York Times: "When it comes to the taxes closest to home, the less you earn, the harder you’re hit."

According to the study, in 2015 the poorest fifth of Americans will pay on average 10.9 percent of their income in state and local taxes, the middle fifth will pay 9.4 percent and the top 1 percent will average 5.4 percent.

In Bill Gate's great State of Washington, the tax system is the most regressive — where the bottom 20 percent of taxpayers pay 16.8 percent of their income in taxes, while the top 1 percent pay just 2.4 percent.

A number of states, including Kansas, have made the situation worse in recent years by cutting income taxes, the only major state revenue source typically based on ability to pay. Income tax cuts thus tend to push more of the cost of paying for schools and other public services to the middle class and poor — exactly the opposite of what is needed.

Think Progress: "To pay for his failed experiment with trickle-down economics, Kansas Governor could raid the school budget."

The billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch recently presented a policy wish-list at a press conference:

1) A balanced budget (which of course would mean, cutting the safety net for working Americans — but not raising taxes on billionaires.)

2) Repealing the inheritance tax (they call it a "death tax", although, dead people don't pay taxes — "only the little people pay taxes.")

3) Allow the tax-free repatriation of trillions of dollars in U.S. profits earned overseas (made from offshoring U.S. jobs to foreign low-wage countries.)

Most American voters (from liberals to conservatives) want a fairer tax code, but neither the trolling Democrats nor the cruel Republicans will ever do anything to change it. Our tax code has been rigged for the very rich ever since the first Gilded Age.

Obama had the White House and the Democrats controlled both the House and the Senate for two years in 2009 and 2010, but they did NOTHING to reform the tax code or to shore up Social Security. Obamacare was two little, too late — when what we really needed was something similar to a "single-payer" healthcare system. A new study has put a price tag on how much more the United States pays in health care costs because it has chosen not to adopt a single-payer system: $375 billion annually.

But ever since the Occupy Wall Street movement, on many issues that the Progressives always advocated, the Moderate / Blue Dog / Third Way Democrats have only been “talking the talk, but not walking the walk.”

Now that the GOP controls both the House and Senate, many Democrats can now pretend they care about the American working-class, and then blame the GOP for all their short-comings. And of course, we still have those 29 Dems who just voted to gut Dodd-Frank — and then there were those 6 Dems who also voted against raising the minimum wage.

As usual, the rich will get richer as the poor get poorer. It seems nothing will ever change, no matter who is in charge.