Taxes
This Week's George Stephanopoulos did not challenge Sen. John McCain's assertion that "history shows every time you have cut capital gains taxes, revenues have increased -- going back to Jack Kennedy." Stephanopoulos did not note that, notwithstanding a potential short-term revenue increase, many economists have challenged the claim that revenue goes up over the long term as a result of capital gains tax rates being cut. (Full Story)
Guess what ? Warren Buffett pays less in taxes that you do. Here is a video of his comments on the estate tax.
Since US media and elected officials are beholden to big money, it is a worthwhile investment for large contributors to invest in the US political process. That is how major corporations have climbed out from under their tax burdens, how extreme wealth gets to keep more and more of their stash, and why most people (you) will have to pay more.
Fundamental fairness would introduce progressivity into the tax code. The progressive income tax has lost a lot of its progressivity under Republicans in the last few years and the net result has been an increase in the already poor distribution of income in the US. The elimination of the estate tax (shrewdly labeled the 'death tax' by Republicans) will continue our move toward aristocracy. The Walton Family (owners of Walmart) stand to gain $37 billion dollars if and when the estate tax is repealed. See this video: Senator Sanders vs Bush Nominee
Recent and archived news articles by David Cay Johnston of The New York Times.
Property Tax
As inflation proceeds, as is always does, retirees on fixed incomes find that the value of their homes has increased and so have their taxes. It pushes retirees out of their homes especially quickly along the shoreline. Seniors may have few options for paying higher taxes considering that inflation in practically everything else makes the problem worse.
It is no wonder the argument over the town budget looks like a generational war: Retirees vs Students.
The basic problem is the property tax. It is regressive, a force for urban sprawl, a destroyer of undeveloped land, and a patently unfair lever to forces senior from their homes. Since the State mandates property taxes as the main source of school funding, it makes education dependent on the affluence of each town.
Some Legislators in Florida have proposed doing away with the property tax as a funding source for the schools. They have proposed modest increases in the State's sales tax to provide for school funding. Actually, the sales tax is fairly regressive also. It hits everyone whether they are earning or not so it can depress consumption. Look at it this way: a relatively poor person will need to spend a large percentage of his income and his consumption taxes will be much higher by percentage than the very wealthy who consume only a small part of their income.
The best solution, although at State level, would be to eliminate the property tax as a funding source for the schools by replacing it with the graduated income tax. The income tax hits only people who actually have income...not students or seniors, and when it is graduated it can put the burden on those most able to pay. Considering the obscene CEO salaries that we often hear about, it is only reasonable to tax high earners at high percentage rates. We used to do this, but Republicans changed it.
The graduated income tax is the fairest and best one to pay for the town's schools. If we were an equal opportunity society, we would also fully, publicly fund higher education for qualified students. Scandinavian countries do this.
The Property Tax should be abolished. It is unfair, subject to inflation, contributes to urban sprawl, and it is highly regressive. The graduated income tax falls most on the comfortable and is, overall, best for the economy.
 |
America's Invisible Rich |
Fair Tax
Republican candidates often think that the 'fair tax' is a good idea. It isn't.
Republicans mostly favor a flat sales tax, sometimes called in an Orwellian sense the 'Fair Tax'.. It is backed by very wealthy and, like all other Republican policy, it is extremely regressive. Be careful what you wish for.
It is, actually, a trojan horse for their regressive agenda. It puts tax burden on the poorest..
War
Republicans are always ready to go to war, but not to pay for them. They claim to be fiscally responsible, but cutting taxes and putting the cost of the war on the tab, financed by third world countries, puts an unconscionable burden on the next generation. The War in Iraq was financed by supplementals. Jose Stiglitz has excellent suggestions for reform in his book The Three Trillion Dollar War:
Where your taxes go. See the explanation why percentages vary.
Federal Tax
The US has the world's largest military. It is bankrupting us, it is motivating a new arms race, it is terrorizing many countries of the world, and it is clearly a making us less safe. We have, in our boastful, arrogant claim to be the world's superpower, created determined enemies and no one will be surprised if we are ourselves subject to attack from outside. Most US tax dollars go to pay for empire.
- Percentage of US discretionary budget spent for military: 57% (since the wars on Iraq and Afghanistan are funded in supplementary budget requests, they must be added to that!)
- US Military Budget as a percent of World total military expenditures: 49%
- Percentage of US discretionary budget spent on education and other social services: 8%
- Number of Americans classified as "food insecure" in 2004: 38 million
- Number of Americans without health insurance: 45 million
- Total direct aid to Israel 1948-2006: $255 billion
- Total Cost of US Support for Israel: $1.688 trillion (not counting money and lives lost in Israel propelled wars like Iraq, not counting loss of $trillions in business with the rest of the world because of US support for Israel etc)
- Federal aid for each resident in Louisiana in 2002 (from their taxes): $1,500
- Direct U.S. aid for each Israeli citizen in 2003 (per capita income in Israel-$16,710; they do not pay taxes to the US): $581
- Direct U.S. aid for each Ethiopian citizen in 2004 (per capita income in Ethiopia - $110): $2.50
- Percentage of U.S. foreign aid that goes to Israel: 27%
- Population of Israel as percentage of total world population: 0.1%
- Number of Palestinian minors killed by Israeli security forces (2000-2007): 814
- Total number of Palestinians injured or killed (September 2000-April 2007): 31,296
- Number of bullets fired by Israeli security forces in the first week of the second Intifada: 1,300,000
- Number of unexploded Israeli bombs strewn across South Lebanon after the 2006 war: 1,000,000 or 1.4 per resident
Bibliography
Perfectly Legal: The Covert Campaign to Rig Our Tax System to Benefit the Super-Rich–and Cheat Everybody Else: David Cay Johnston