Posted by AzBlueMeanie:
I previously suggested this idea at the state level by initiative. I am still waiting to hear from the Grand Pooh-Bahs responsible for organizing and raising the funds to pay for any initiative. A Way Forward: Initiative, Referendum and Recall:
Do you want a truly progressive income tax structure that is fair and is not weighted in favor of the wealthy and corporations? Then enact a progressive income tax structure by citizen initiative.
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If you want to address income taxes by initiative, then draft a multi-tiered progressive income tax structure. Take it out of the hands of our regressive state legislature. I'll throw out the suggestion that you call this the "Citizens Tax Fairness" initiative.
So, I was close. Great minds think alike. Think Progress reports on efforts at the congressional level. CHART: Taxing Millionaires Would Save Billions More Than Cutting Education And Programs For Main Street:
All around the country, right-wing legislators are asking Main Street Americans to pay for budget deficits caused mainly by a recession caused by Wall Street by attacking collective bargaining, and cutting necessary services and investments like college tuition aid and health care for the poor.
As these conservatives are cutting these services for hard-working middle class Americans, they are claiming they are acting out of need for “shared sacrifice.” Yet at the same time, the right continues to advocate for massive tax cuts for the wealthiest among us.
Rep. Jan Schakowksy (D-IL), along with a number of her progressive congressional colleagues, has introduced a plan that demands real “shared sacrifice.” Her plan, The Fairness in Taxation Act, calls for creating new tax brackets for the richest Americans, starting at a 45 percent rate for people whose income is $1 million. Her bracket would impose the highest rate — 49 percent — on billionaires.
A chart provided by her congressional office demonstrates that asking the wealthiest among us to pay a little more would actually save more money than all of the House Republicans’ cuts to domestic spending combined. House Resolution 1, which gutted funding on Pell Grants, low-income housing aid, community health centers, and other important programs for Main Street Americans, cut a total of $61 billion. Meanwhile, Schakowsky’s plan saves $78.9 billion, considerably more:
[Rep.] Schakowsky said that she is “hoping” to build enough momentum within Congress to make her proposal the main alternative to the conservative slash-and-burn budget effort, saying that it is a “winner” for Democrats, both politically and on policy grounds. She said that the House Progressive Caucus is planning to do a road show in the summer to campaign on tax justice and endorsed the Main Street Movement that is defending the middle class across America.
Once again, a March 2 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found that 81 percent of Americans prefer taxing the wealthiest Americans more as their top choice for deficit reduction, while less than a third of Americans endorsed policy options like cutting funding to education and health care.
Democrats should seize on this issue at the state and federal level. It is time to bury on the ash heap of history the disproved and discredited faith based supply-side "trickle down" Republican theory of economics, that somehow by giving all our money to the über-rich and corporations they will be moved by their lordly beneficence to bestow on us the crumbs from their magnificent banquet table. How's that been working out for ya?