Tax The Rich

[jpertello]

Reprinted from "Sharing The Pie" by Steve Brouwer via the website Third World Traveler:




"Can the people of the United States retake control, once again taxing the richest citizens at a progressive rate and creating a fair society for all? If we had a Congress and a president who were willing to promote the interests of the vast majority of Americans, we could recapture some of the accumulated wealth that has been transferred to the rich over the last two decades. A reallocation of our resources could serve working people in the following ways:
* by creating full employment, with a higher minimum wage and shorter workweek
* by supporting quality day care for all who need it
* by providing for federally funded health care that serves everyone
* by rebuilding the nation's schools, roads, bridges, sewers, and parks
* by offering free higher education and other training to all citizens
Measures such as this will certainly cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Where can we get this kind of money while keeping the budget deficit reasonably low? There are several places to start:
* We must reestablish upper-bracket federal income tax rates comparable to those imposed during the prosperous decades of the 1950s and 1960s. The current effective rate on the richest 1 percent, whose income is at least $900 billion per year, is about 25 percent. An effective tax rate of 50 percent on the very richest 1 percent of Americans would raise an extra $225 billion.
* Raise the effective tax rate on corporate profits to 50 percent, the approximate rate of the 1950s. Profits have risen dramatically, to over $600 billion per year, while taxes have remained at an effective rate of about 25 percent, so this increase would yield another $150 billion.
* Institute an annual wealth tax of 3 percent on the richest 1 percent of Americans; this will yield $250 billion per year.
* Cut defense spending on new weaponry by $100 billion to stay in line with the diminished military budgets of the rest of the world."

--more--

http://www.thirdworldtraveler.com/Economics/TaxRich.html

link to the book:
http://www.amazon.com/Sharing-Pie-Citizens-Guide-Wealth/dp/0805052062/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213555423&sr=8-1

[Vincardog]

1. Add an estate tax. First million free 2 - 5 million 25% tax 6 - 10 million 50% tax 10- 15 million 75

over 15 million 99% tax.
What would that raise?

[SergeyDovlatov]

4. Most likely nothing

Any confiscatory taxes will be avoided through various estate planning schemes.
Most likely effect being that there will be very little estates over 15,000,000 in private hands.

[Vincardog]

13. When the IRS spends as much on investigating them as they do on investigating the working man

we will see.

[Prophet 451]

16. Numbers need tinkering with

With the rate of inflation and the rise in housing prices, it may not be that long before the average estate is, on paper, worth two million or more. Also, I think you'd need more categories which makes it more progressive and therefore, fairer. It's a useful idea to start with though.

Hell, based on an article I read last year (and this is from memory, so don't ask me to cite it), simply closing the loopholes in the tax code would net about $30 billion annually. I'd support throwing out the whole tax code and starting again to close the loopholes and make it possible for humans to understand.

[Name removed]

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[snappyturtle]

2. One thing is for certain....tax cuts for the rich has been an enormous

failure and detriment to our economy. I think it is high time to tax the people sucking off the tax laws that have enabled them to astromonical wealth...only in America. And, I mean taxing the corporations too. Those that have chosen to go off shore should pay huge tariffs.

[deadmessengers]

3. You could accomplish this WAY easier

Eliminate the capital gains tax, and start treating capital gains as income. With one change to the tax code, you're done, and Warren Buffet won't pay less in tax (as a percentage of his income) than his secretary any more.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

5. I agree.

And I don't buy this nonsense about "people will stop investing!" either. The investor class invested back when capital gains were 35% and higher.

[Bob Dobbs]

6. Too simple to pass.

And makes way too much sense.

[deadmessengers]

7. Aggravating, but quite true.

It drives me absolutely NUTS, but it's true.

[unblock]

12. right-wingers who are always talking about incentives - try making income from LABOR tax-exempt

tax income earned from all sources the same but take their assinine arguments about why capital gains need to be tax-free and apply them to LABOR income. put a cap on it (say $50,000) to prevent too much evasion through recategorization.


actually i think just treating everything the same along with the sort of exemptions and deductions already in place would be fine, i just want to see their heads explode when we use the exact opposite of their positions!

[Name removed]

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[Blackeye101]

8. Flat Tax or Fair tax

Europe's gone too it,they seem to be always one step ahead of us.

[deadmessengers]

9. What country in Europe has gone to a flat tax?

I've not heard of this, and some quick Googling doesn't show any real results, other than one link that sais that the Italian right-wing is pushing it.

A cite would help your case here.

Oh, and welcome to DU...

[Blackeye101]

10. Here are six, and thanks for the welcome

The countries that have recently reintroduced flat taxes have done so largely in the hope of boosting economic growth. The Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have had flat taxes of 24%, 25% and 33% respectively with a tax exempt amount, since the mid-1990s. On 1 January 2001, a 13% flat tax on personal income took effect in Russia. Ukraine followed Russia with a 13% flat tax in 2003, which later increased to 15% in 2007. Slovakia introduced a 19% flat tax on most taxes (that is, on corporate and personal income, for VAT etc., almost without exceptions) in 2004; Romania introduced a 16% flat tax on personal income and corporate profit on January 1, 2005. Macedonia introduced a 12% flat tax on personal income and corporate profit on January 1, 2007 and promised to cut it to 10% in 2008.<35> Albania would be implementing 10% flat tax from 2008.

When it comes to taxes, I am open to looking at anything other than what we now have in place.

[Prophet 451]

15. You're wrong

The six nations listed are, unsurprisingly, some of the poorest in Europe.

Enjoy the granite cookie.

[Name removed]

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[formercia]

11. 300% tax for war profiteering

Triple damages is an accepted legal remedy.

[gravity]

14. I disagree with the proposals, especially with the wealth tax

We should have a fair progressive tax system, but punishing wealth shouldn't be the motive behind it.

This country has this whole tax debate backward. We should find out what all the social and government programs costs first, then find out the lowest tax rate to pay for them in a fair progressive manner.

[Name removed]

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