"60 Minutes covers I-1098 and the national debate on taxes. Tune in at 7pm on Sunday!"

60 Minutes (CBS News):

Ronald Reagan's budget director, who once championed the positive trickle-down effects of tax cuts, now says Republicans pushing to extend the Bush tax cuts should be ashamed of themselves. David Stockman tells Lesley Stahl that to continue tax cuts as the debt grows by $100 billion a month and not have the will to cut spending is "demagoguery."

Stahl's report on the tax controversy will be broadcast on "60 Minutes" this Sunday, Oct. 31, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.
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Does the former budget director have a solution to the budget mess? He has a partial solution, which he says would cut the national debt in half: a one-time 15 percent surtax on the wealthy. Says Stockman, "Today, after serial bubble after serial bubble, the top five percent have a net worth of $40 trillion. The top five percent have gained more wealth than the whole human race had created prior to 1980," says Stockman.

But he acknowledges that such a tax would never be passed. "There's the rub," says Stockman. "We've demonized taxes…We've created almost the idea that they're a metaphysical evil."

A proposal for a similar tax on the richest residents is on the ballot in the state of Washington, which, like most states, faces huge deficits. Stahl goes there to report on it and to talk to the father of the person it will impact the most - Microsoft founder Bill Gates. Does Gates want to pay the many millions such a tax will cost him? "Well, 'wants' to is a little strong,"says his dad, Bill Gates, Sr. "He is for it. He's very willing." MORE...