It’s clear now that the Republican Party will stonewall and ridicule President Obama’s proposed budget despite rampant popular approval of the rhetoric and tangible benefits contained in it.
The GOP hopes bluster continues to override logic, but those days are drawing to an end. And the Democratic Party can hasten that fall by proposing populist ideas and watching the GOP try to rip them down, further exposing their blue-blood bias. Therefore, we should announce, explain, popularize and promote these vast differences in perspective. With each indignant outcry the GOP continues to prove our point that they are out for CEOs not Average Joes.
Wealth inequality is something hundreds of millions deplore. According to stats brought to light by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, six members of the Walton family, owners of Walmart, were worth $144 billion in 2013 while the bottom 41% of Americans, 131 million people, were worth collectively only $123 billion.
And there are thousands of other billionaires in America that benefit from these same tax laws full of loopholes and giveaways that fueled the Walton fortune.
Wealth inequality is one thing, but the induced austerity forced on the middle class due to the GOP’s steadfast refusal to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires makes all the lives of everyone else harder. With appropriate taxation of the super-rich, there’s no need for Americans to suffer through cuts in social programs.
I’d like to see Democrats propose the “1000 Families Top Tax Tier” and another notch at the “100 Families” level. These tiers are based around the minimum that a lower middle class family of four can survive on: about $35,000. Here’s what I think Dems should promote, which also includes lowering taxes on some of the wealthy among us.
-the Bush tax cuts expired for those making above $250,000. Push that cap up to $350,000
-from $350,000 to $3.5 million per year, the tax rate will be at 38%, still lower than the 39.6% of the top tier now
-from $3.5 million to $35 million, the “100 Families” rate will apply: 43%
-from $35 million on up, the “1000 Families” rate will be 72%
-liquid asset capital gains will remain at 20% up to $800,000, but thereafter will be taxed at the regular income rate. For hard assets the transition happens at double that, $1.6 million, and beyond that the rate will be 28%
-the baseline for all corporate tax rates will go down to 28%
-ALL OFFSHORE CORPORATE TAX HAVENS used to shield companies from paying US taxes will be discontinued. If any business has more than 60% of its employees and/or 60% of its gross revenue within the US, there can be no more tax dodging
-the shielding of personal taxable income in offshore accounts will also end
Since there is give and take in this proposal such as lowering corporate tax rates, it can be seen as a valid compromise for all parties. Watch the GOP and a complicit media throw a temper tantrum. And in return we can point out that America’s most prosperous age in modern times, the ‘50s and ‘60s, had the top tax tier (for those making about $2 million a year back then) at 91% then 74% before Reagan cut it by more than half.
If Democrats propose and popularize this tax idea, Republican outrage can be their Waterloo. There will be a tipping point when middle America realizes that GOP legislation effects them negatively while the rich are clearly coddled. Then they will understand just how they’ve been played. The sooner this happens, the greater the landslide in 2016 despite Koch brothers billions.
How can we overcome billionaire dark money next election? By revealing that dark money is blatantly pushing for a CORPservative agenda while America is already well into the populist surge, the cat will already be out of the bag. And the Inclusive America that results from a 2016 Dem landslide will eventually combat global warming effectively, restore fairness in elections, renew consumer protections, and bring true oversight into monopoly capitalism.
That’s what the next decade can look like. And the momentum begins with putting the spotlight on the differences between the two parties. That can start right now by adopting the name “1000 Families Top Tax Tier”, refining and running the numbers on the concept, and putting it on the lips of everyone, in Congress and on Main Street.