Contract for The American Dream

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

On Tuesday, Representatives of MoveOn.org, Rebuild the Dream and the Center for Economic Policy and Research joined Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) to launch a progressive “Contract for the American Dream” to urge the administration and Congress to turn away from budget cutting and focus on job creation. Liberals outline stimulus agenda in 'Contract for the American Dream':

The contract is a mix of proposals that could make their way into a fall jobs compromise with Republicans, as well as more far-reaching goals such as universal government-run healthcare for all that are less likely to be enacted.  

Schakowsky said Obama adviser David Plouffe has asked to see the contract, but the White House has yet to comment on it. 

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In 10 bullet points, the contract calls for massive new spending and taxes.

At the top of the list are items Obama has been calling for: investing in infrastructure, clean energy, strengthening public education. These “winning the future” items were included in Obama’s 2012 budget, which was rejected unanimously in the Senate after it become focused on budget cutting.

The contract also calls for a crackdown on corporations to enforce equal pay for equal work, reforming Social Security by lifting the cap on payroll taxes, accelerating the pullout of troops from Afghanistan and overhauling the campaign finance system.

On taxes, the groups are calling for an end to Bush-era tax rates, a new higher tax bracket for millionaires and a surcharge on Wall Street trades of 1/20th of 1 percent. Schakowsky has proposed a 45 percent tax rate for millionaires and a 49 percent tax rate for billionaires.

“We have a jobs crisis, not a deficit crisis,” the contract reads.

“The federal government must act now to put Americans back to work, and that will require reversing the premature focus on deficit reduction,” Robert Borosage of the Campaign for America’s Future said. In a separate release he called for expanding AmeriCorps and creating new direct work programs he calls Urban Corps, Green Corps and Service Corps. He calls for direct intervention to prevent layoffs on the local level of teachers and police.

The contract is also being promoted by the Change to Win union coalition and a host of smaller groups.

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Van Jones of Rebuild the Dream said the movement behind the contract is three times as big as the Tea Party was when it launched. It will be taking the document to August town-hall meetings.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky has more at her web site. Schakowsky Introduces Bill to Tax Millionaires and Billionaires:

WASHINGTON, DC (March 16, 2011) – Today Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL), member of President Obama’s 18-member Fiscal Commission, introduced the Fairness in Taxation Act, which would create new tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires. Original co-sponsors include co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ) and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN), as well as Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL), Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), Rep. Bob Filner (D-CA), Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN), Rep. John Yarmuth (D-KY), and Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR). 

Income inequality in America is the worst we’ve seen it since 1928. Wages have stagnated for middle and lower income families despite enormous gains in productivity. Where has all the money gone? 

“In the United States today, the richest 1% owns 34 % of our nation’s wealth – that’s more than the entire bottom 90%, who own just 29% of the country’s wealth,” said Rep. Schakowsky. “And the top one-hundredth of 1% now makes an average of $27 million per household per year. The average income for the bottom 90% of Americans? $31,244. It’s time for millionaires and billionaires to pay their fair share, which is why I introduced the Fairness in Taxation Act. This isn’t about punishment or revenge. It’s about fairness. It’s about avoiding budget cuts that harm middle class families and those who aspire to it. We can choose to cut education, job creation and health care, or we can choose to ask those who can contribute more to do so.”

The current top tax bracket begins at $373,000 in income and fails to distinguish between the “well off” and billionaires – like the top 20 hedge fund managers whose average income last year was over $1 billion. 

The Fairness in Taxation Act asks enacts new tax brackets for income starting at $1 million and ends with a $1 billion bracket. The new brackets would be:

• $1-10 million: 45%
• $10-20 million: 46%
• $20-100 million: 47%
• $100 million to $1 billion: 48%
• $1 billion and over: 49%

The bill would also tax capital gains and dividend income as ordinary income for those taxpayers with income over $1 million. If enacted in 2011, the Fairness in Taxation Act would raise more than $78 billion.

“It’s time we treated multi-millionaires the same way we treat working families – by creating a tax bracket to match their income,” said Rep. Raúl M. Grijalva (D-AZ), co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus. “There’s no reason to treat the wealthiest one percent of the country any more specially than anyone else, and right now that’s exactly what our tax system is doing. The Republican war on working families means cutting from the middle and handing the savings to the top. Instead, let’s have everyone pay their fair share to create jobs and get the economy moving again.”