Yes, this is exactly my point. The code is progressive from low to middle to upper middle, then becomes regressive at the top. It's perverse. People in the upper middle class who primarily make their money at a decent paying job pay the most in federal tax (as a percent of income). $200,000 sounds like a lot of money, but a family making $200,000 has a lot more in common (in terms of financial challenges) with a family making $60,000 than they do with a family making $2,000,000. I'm not saying we need to cry for the poor $200k/yr wage earner, but just that there's not a lot of sense in making that person have a higher tax burden than people above and below her. Bonus, income, capital gains, etc, are all fungible, so we shouldn't be treating them as separate.