World’s Wealthy Pay a Price In Crisis

LONDON -- In this land of inherited privilege and celebrity billionaires, it no longer pays as much to be rich. the British government is joining others around the globe in tapping the wealthy to cover massive shortfalls.>

The Obama administration has vowed to press forward with its ambitious agenda without raising income taxes on families earning less than $250,000. But the president's current budget calls for a rollback of the Bush tax cuts for the richest Americans that would increase their top marginal tax rate in 2011 from 35 percent to 39.6 percent, or the same as in the Clinton era.

In India, the government has launched an effort to track down billions of dollars in "black money" -- or hidden profits of the rich.

In Germany, Parliament in July passed a law requiring the affluent to provide more information on the locations of their assets.