In the essay "Please Raise My Taxes" by Reed Hastings, he believes that America's rich (as he defines it as anyone with income over $1 million) would have to pay higher taxes while receiving the same or higher salary. This is a controversial topic because there is a wide range of attitudes about what people should earn, how much should be given to the government and others, essentially the paradigm of an individual's worth versus the value of his society and to what extent he wishes to contribute to social protection. Indeed, whenever an ego is challenged, conflicts ensue. Hastings begins his persuasive article by stating that he is the CEO of a successful company (Netflix). This is his demonstration philosophy, proving his identity and expertise in tax reporting and feeling like he wants to support his government because he belongs to a high income socio-economic group. However, he immediately follows this sentence by making a roundabout suggestion to President Obama and insinuating that Obama had "tried to shame us" and cut his salary, and that instead of doing that, Obama should take a larger part of its income through tax collection. . The amount proposed to increase this amount is half instead of the current third of the income of the highest income brackets. The next paragraph of his argument again combines logos and pathos, alluding to the statistical references he made in the previous paragraph and using memorable language. as “a staggering amount of money” used for “soldiers, schools and security.” Then, in the next paragraph, he mentions that attempts to reduce executive compensation have not achieved much. He cites as an example President Bill Clinton's attempt in 1993 to...... end up in the middle of paper... even when they themselves have higher incomes. It was a sensitive topic for him to write about, one that would have given him a lot of opposition. Plus, while he wouldn't mind his taxes being raised, he still didn't want his salary cut too much or being sidelined. Not all other executives would necessarily agree with his argument: many high-income earners believe they should keep most of their salary. Hastings appears to have given a typical, left-skewed view of how to handle taxes on the highest income brackets, which would make him popular in the eyes of the average American. Works CitedHastings, Reed. “Please raise my taxes.” The New York Times. February 5, 2009. The New York Times. February 20, 2014. Gooch, John and Dorothy U. Seyler. Argument! Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2013.