[GoNative]

Fair for who? The rich?
If you didn't have marginal tax rates what other taxes would you increase to maintain the required taxes to run the country?
Or what services would you cut?
I find it interesting how Americans seem so worried about taxing the rich. For a start the vast bulk of Americans are not rich and don't pay anywhere near the top tax bracket. And your top tax percentage is much lower than many other developed nations and the income you have to earn before reaching that bracket is much higher. In Australia the top tax bracket kicks in if you earn more than $180,000 and it's 45% on any money earned over this amount. And yet Australia's economy is doing very well with close to full employment, the economy continued to grow after the GFC and housing prices instead of tumbling have only flattened. Some areas have decreased slightly and some have continued to increase slightly.
One of the benefits of running a company in Australia is that the company tax rate is a constant 30%. I run my own business and up to $130,000 the personal income tax rate averages out to 30%. So any income I earn above this I don't take as personal income but company income so effectively my tax rate regardless of how much I earn is capped at 30%. This is a great incentive for those running a business in Australia.
Our marginal tax rates I think assist the poor better than in the US. The first $6,000 you earn is not taxed at all and from next year this will increase to $18,000. So those earning the least and in most need of help pay very little income tax at all.
We have a 10% goods and services tax but this does not apply to basic food staples.
So Although I agree with a reasonable cap on company tax rates to help small to medium businesses which are the biggest creators of jobs I don't agree that CEO's and other top executives earning millions of dollars a year pay such low tax rates. You could easily increase their taxes without greatly affecting their lifestyle at all and their tax rate won't affect the amount of jobs created.

A flat tax rate as Ryzorian suggests disproportionately affects those on lower incomes and only allows the already rich to get much richer. They have been getting richer anyway. Why should the lower and middle incomes brackets which make up the vast bulk of the population have to accept a tax regime that only really benefits those who already earn bucket loads of cash? Crazy idea that could only fly in a place like America.