Yes...you heard it right. he was talking about "loopholes" and how high marginal rate combined with a complicated tax code results in the working class getting screwed. Obama's solution. Make the tax code even more complicated. Pass a falt tax , as all of Europe just agreed to do, and the problem goes away. But...no chance for graft and corruption so you won't see that out of this Democrat controlled Senate.

It was the Republicans under Reagan with the so called Reaganomics when the US economy started down ever increasing slippery slope from creditor to debtor nation.
In 1981, shortly after taking office,The Gipper complained of "runaway deficits" that were then approaching US$80 billion, or about 2.5% GDP. But within only two years his policies had succeeded in enlarging the deficit to more than US$200 billion, or 6 % GDP.
At the end of the Reagan/Bush era it was down to US$150 billion, still almost double what it had been under Carter. However the National Debt had  climbed from US$995 billion, when Reagan took office, to $4 trillion by the end of Bush1's presidency. Reagan and Bush Administrations increased it as a % GDP from 26% to 42%.,

Clinton managed hold/wind back both of them in returning the budget to a surplus of some US$280 billion and reducing the National Debt to 35%
GDP.
But George, The Faux Texan and late unlamented encumbrance in the White House, even managed to outdo "The Gipper" and his own Dad.

He set another unenviable record. The deficit was to be $482 billion in the 2009 budget moving from black to red ink in the order of US$750 billion from the end of Clinton's term.

Partly caused by the Iraq Fiasco and the Afghan Imbroglio, The Three Trillion Dollar War. This the only conflict since the War of Independence to be fought on credit.

Next came the Wall Street Tsunami which washed over the world and led to the GFC, the Global Financial Chicken that came home to roost.

It was also under The Faux Texan that the US debt limit was raised seven times.

All of which left a huge and noisome pile of financial and fiscal ordure for any incoming Administration, Democrat or Republican.

So much so that currently the USA needs to borrow about 40% of the funds needed to keep the it running.

It is interesting to note that from 1978-2005 with 2 Democratic and 5 Republican Administrations these figures.

Democratic  Federal Spending up by 9.9%. Federal Debt by 4.2%, GDP by 12.6%.

Republican Federal Spending up 12.1%, Federal Debt by 36.4% , GDP by  10.7%

Yes.
About time they tightened up on these wealthy tax dodgers.
The Feds eventually got Al Capone on tax dodging and put him away for a bit.

The sooner countries move away from income taxation and instead tax financial transactions, unsustainable activity, polluting processes and consumption with loopholeless tax laws i fear we will always be at the mercy of bought government and wealthy interest groups. It matters not who led us here but what the politicians will do to stop the slide.

What we see here is a failure to distinguish between investment returns and personal income. A simple device of investment accounts could institute this distinction, and then banks might just think to stop selling taxable fixed-interest accounts as 'investments'. But you know what sales-people are like.

If everyone paid their "fair share", the top 1% would pay less and the bottom 47% would pay more than $0. I think if you polled America, close to 100% would say that a person with income of oen million should pay more than a bus driver. In practice, this already happens and best case scenario with loopholes is that millionaire doesn't pay. Bus driver making $20,000 isn't going to pay taxes anyways and may already make money via EIC. I think almost all are in favor of closing loopholes. Simplest system is to eliminate ALL loopholes and just make it flat. One really can't argue that isn't fair. Today, top 1% accounts for 20% of federal income and accounts for 40% of federal income taxes. Of course this isn't "fair", but do we really want them to pay less? If "fair" is paying more, than what percentage should they pay? And is the bottom 47% paying nothing fair? Shouldn't everyone making more than $5000 have to pay at least $10? Really?