Paying for It
So, you’re asking, how do we pay for bridges and fire fighters and teachers and trains and health care for kids and sewers that don’t overflow all the time, without putting an unbearable tax burden on middle-class families or small businesses?
The answer is not hard and it’s been laid out a lot of times by a lot of people. Here’s James Surowiecki in the New Yorker:
Between 2002 and 2007, for instance, the bottom ninety-nine per cent of incomes grew 1.3 per cent a year in real terms—while the incomes of the top one per cent grew ten per cent a year. That one per cent accounted for two-thirds of all income growth in those years. People in the ninety-fifth to the ninety-ninth percentiles of income have represented a fairly constant share of the national income for twenty-five years now. But in that period the top one per cent has seen its share of national income double; in 2007, it captured twenty-three per cent of the nation’s total income. Even within the top one per cent, income is getting more concentrated: the top 0.1 per cent of earners have seen their share of national income triple over the same period. All by themselves, they now earn as much as the bottom hundred and twenty million people. So at the same time that the rich have been pulling away from the middle class, the very rich have been pulling away from the pretty rich, and the very, very rich have been pulling away from the very rich.
The current debate over taxes takes none of this into account. At the moment, we have a system of tax brackets well suited to nineteenth-century New Zealand. Our system sets the top bracket at three hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, with a tax rate of thirty-five per cent. (People in the second-highest bracket, starting at a hundred and seventy-two thousand dollars for individuals, pay thirty-three per cent.) This means that someone making two hundred thousand dollars a year and someone making two hundred million dollars a year pay at similar tax rates. LeBron James and LeBron James’s dentist: same difference.
This makes no sense—there’s a yawning chasm between the professional and the plutocratic classes, and the tax system should reflect that. A better tax system would have more brackets, so that the super-rich pay higher rates. (The most obvious bracket to add would be a higher rate at a million dollars a year, but there’s no reason to stop there.) This would make the system fairer, since it would reflect the real stratification among high-income earners. A few extra brackets at the top could also bring in tens of billions of dollars in additional revenue.
Not to mention the fun of watching Republicans try to pretend they were somehow sticking up for the little guy by opposing added taxes on multimillionaires.
Tags: public services, taxes
Cut Cut Cut try Raise Raise Raise
REVENUE
ctj.org study shiows 2008 Top 1% paid 30% Total Income in Total Federal-State-Local Taxes.
Middle 20% paid 28% or almost the same.
Yet! Democrats let them get by wanting more Rich for Rich. shame on us. ar we dumb or what?
Since 1980 Middle Class raped in daylight.
Country Club Party became Wall Street of America
1% owned 20% total financial wealth in 1980
1989=36%
2008=43%
2009-1% took 25% Total Income
WSA left Investment busnness and went into Gambling in 2000.
Bush got 31.000 Net New Jobs Lowest since Hoover
rounded numbers
Clinton left Bush 1800B Budgt
Bush took to 3600B
Clinton left 5700B Debt
Bush took to 11,000
Clinton left 237,000 New new Jobs Per Month
Bush got 31,000
Clinton left Peace On earth
Bush got Hell On Earth
Clinto left as Most admired peacetime president in Asia, Africa,. Europe
Bush got Most Hated in World
How can anyone vote a Republican into Washington.
Numbers reveal, without question, Democrats built a Great Middle Class and a Safety net for Least Amongst us
Republicans fought fought fought against Middle Class and Poor.
need a dynamic experienced irritated speaker here is one.
clarence swinney political historian Lifeaholics of America burlington nc 336-228-762
TELL THE PEOPLE PLEASE
Rome-Spain-Holland-England–America?
You must sign in or register to post a comment. Registration is free.
I worked for a company in which a failed CEO received a $22 million severance payout. It costs about $5 to maintain a department of about 30 white collar professionals. The amount of the severance was almost equal to the price of maintaining one business unit for one year. Executive compensation is diverting money from investment in the future of the company and therefore from the uture of the economy. What makes it worse is that the rich are spending money only on palatial homes for themselves rather than on investments in businesses that create jobs. There are medical technollgies that could take off and become profitable if some of these executives invested in the R&D, but it is the misallocation of the money that the tax structure has to correct. Increasing taxes on the rich, but providing the tax credit for research, is a step in the right direction.
You must sign in or register to post a comment. Registration is free.
Spending money on some areas now will save money later. Specifically, spending more money for the education and mental health of our children now will save money in the criminal justice system and social services later. Replacing oil heaters with gas will save on defense expenditures in the long run. Moving houses and stores to off grid solar energy in California will prevent expenses and losses for emergency relief. We need to make targeted expenditures that will result in cost savings later.
You must sign in or register to post a comment. Registration is free.
Tax system should be beneficial to Merchant community.
You must sign in or register to post a comment. Registration is free.
The real focus should be on the main street merchants, the small business owner. The big corporations don’t seem to have an issue raising money by selling bonds, big bank loans. Small business loans aren’t getting approved that’s why so many are looking to business cash advances to leverage their credit card receipts. Great content about this on the blog.
You must sign in or register to post a comment. Registration is free.