Myths About Raising Taxes On The Rich

Income Inequality

Sunday Reading

The Death Tax Deception
Kansas Shows Us What Could Happen If Republicans Win In 2016
NFL Gives Up Tax Breaks To Keep Its Secrets
NFL Voluntarily Ends Tax-Exempt Status
Why The NFL Decided To Start Paying Taxes
Oklahoma City Issues Statement On Legislative Proposal To Limits Cities' Authority To Regulate Oil & Gas Drilling
Most Baltimore Police Officers Live Outside The City
The Long, Painful And Repetitive History Of How Baltimore Became Baltimore
Police Killings Rise Slightly, Though Increased Focus May Suggest Otherwise
David Simon On Baltimore's Anguish 

Weekend Reading

Federal Report: Vegan Diet Best For Planet 
Fish Oil Claims Not Supported By Research
Why The Paleo Diet Is Half-Baked
How Medicare Reduce Spending By $315 Billion Without Even Trying
No, The Estate Tax Isn't Destroying Family Farms
Obesity Is Hurting The U.S. Economy In Surprising Ways
Get A Job? Most Welfare Recipients Already Have One
Debunking The Myth Of The Job-Stealing Immigrant
Corporations Now Spend More On Congress Than Taxpayers Spend Funding Congress

Inherited Wealth & The Value Of Work

Episode 346 by billmaher56

Weekend Reading

City Hall: Where The Jobs Aren't
Five Myths About The Middle Class
Government Cutbacks Separate This Expansion From Others
Half Of Americans Die With Virtually No Assets
How Uncle Sam Helped Mitt Romney Build His Fortune
Monopoly Greed
No One Pays The Estate Tax
3 Reasons Why Hosting The Olympic Is A Loser's Game
Wages Aren't Stagnating, They're Plummeting
Water Is The New Gold, A Big Commodity Bet

Cutting Not The Only Choice

There is another choice.

Higher taxes.

Stop the hissing and just listen.

Not higher taxes on workers. Higher taxes on the rich, on capital gains, on estates, on stock trading, and numerous other bloated, overblown entities which have been siphoning our hard earned dollars away from us over the past few decades.

The majority of us are not wealthy. But, through government, we can tax the rich. There is no reason why cutting, cutting, cutting is our only choice. We all enjoy these programs and benefit from collective action in our interest. This anti-tax aversion is ruining our country. The ridiculously wealthy have benefited disproportionately from our courts, infrastructure, and other institutions. It's not outrageous to ask them to pay their fair share.

It's time to redistribute their ill-gotten gains. Their country needs it.

The Robber Barons of yesteryear would be blushing at the corruption, greed, and selfishness of today's uber wealthy.

Facts and Figures

Courtesy of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities:

Federal level:

Fewer than 3 in 1,000 estates in 2009 are expected to be subject to the estate tax.

About 11 percent of the federal budget in 2008, or $313 billion, supported programs that provide aid (other than health insurance or Social Security benefits) to individuals and families facing hardship.

Social Security provides benefits to 48 million Americans, with the average beneficiary receiving $10,500 per year. 10 million beneficiaries are adults below the age of 65, and 4 million are children. For one-third of the elderly, it provides nearly all of their income. Social Security is an extremely efficient program, with administrative costs equaling only 0.6 percent of retirement and survivors benefits.

State level:

Cash assistance to low-income individuals through Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and some smaller programs, such as general assistance, makes up only a tiny share of state spending — about 1 percent or $13 billion.

Courtesy of the Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau:

The property tax is the largest source of combined state and local tax revenue in Wisconsin. It represents 28.1 percent of all municipal revenue.

In 2006 our property taxes per $1,000 of personal income ranked 9th, our property taxes per capita ranked 12th.

In 2007 residential property taxpayers accounted for 71 percent of total property tax collections, commercial property accounted for 21 percent. In 1970 residential accounted for 51 percent, while commercial accounted for 20 percent.

Dispelling Campaign Myths

Obama's tax plan is more likely to help economy; McCain's plan would hurt the economy.

The tax code is not more progressive than it has been.

What is means to be classified a "small business."

Only 1% of taxpayers would be affected by Obama's proposed increase in the Social Security payroll tax.

Capital gains and dividends tax cuts primarily benefit the well-to-do.

Less than 1% of estates pay the estate ("death") tax.

Thanks to Citizens for Tax Justice for this timely research.