April, 11 2011, 02:56pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Mazher Ali, 617-423-2148 x101, mali@responsiblewealth.org
Sue Dorfman, sdorfman@responsiblewealth.org
Â
With Shutdown Averted, Wealthy Citizens Call for Higher Taxes on Themselves as Part of Long-Term Solution: Urge Return to Higher Tax Rates on Capital Gains and Dividend Income
BOSTON
Now that the government shutdown has been averted, a surprising group of wealthy taxpayers are stepping up to the plate to be a part of the long-term solution. Today Responsible Wealth and United for a Fair Economy launched the "Tax Wealth Like Work" campaign to focus attention on the discrepancies in the U.S. tax system that reward income from wealth over income from work. Income from capital gains and dividend income - a type of investment income from stocks, real estate, and other holdings - is taxed at a top marginal rate of only 15 percent. Income earned from work, on the other hand, has a top rate of 35 percent.
With Congress and cash-strapped states struggle to balance budgets, high net worth individuals are urging that income from their stocks and investment portfolios be taxed at the same rate as income that others earn from work. Mike Lapham, director of the Responsible Worth network, notes that, "restoring the capital gains and dividend tax rate to the same rate that wages and salaries are taxed would raise $84 billion. That would easily cover the federal budget cuts being hammered out this week, with funds left over to help cash-strapped states."
Taxing income from wealth at the same rate as income from work is not new and has support from across the political spectrum. Capital gains and dividends were taxed at the same rate as income from work as recently as the late 1980s under Presidents Reagan and Bush. Restoring tax parity between the two types of income was one of the recommendations of the 2010 U.S. Deficit Commission report. The Congressional Progressive Caucus included it in their framework for an emerging "People's Budget" circulated last week.
Capital gains and dividend income is heavily concentrated at the top of the income spectrum. A typical household with $58,000 in income receives only 0.5 percent of its income from capital gains. By comparison, the top 0.01 percent of households, who earn an average of $35 million, typically receive more than 44 percent of their income from capital gains. Adding dividends pushes it well over 50 percent. This distribution of capital gains and dividends, coupled with the much lower tax rate, upends what would otherwise be a progressive tax system.
The "Tax Wealth Like Work" campaign provides website visitors with an interactive tax
calculator that estimates the tax savings individuals and families receive from the special treatment of capital gains and dividend income, along with their savings from the income tax cuts enacted under President Bush in 2001 and 2003. After calculating their savings, participants are encouraged to take the Tax Fairness Pledge and commit to giving all or a portion of their savings away to groups working to promote greater fairness in our economy, including ending the special treatment of capital gains and dividends.The website also includes video testimonials plotted on an income graph, ranging from high wealth taxpayers to those on the lowest end of the income spectrum. Pledge signer Eric Schoenberg says that, "I know full well how our tax system is tilted to benefit Americans who live off of accumulated capital rather than labor income. The vast majority of my income comes from my investment portfolio. Last year my income was just over $200,000 and my taxes were only $2,000--a mere one percent! Somebody making that in salary would have paid at least $30,000 more. Equalizing the tax rates paid by rich investors like me and working Americans would be an excellent start."Seattle-based Judy Pigott, one of the heirs to her grandfather's company that builds Peterbilt trucks and other heavy equipment, was one of the first people to sign the Pledge. "If we even kept what was in place from the end of the Reagan years and into those of Bush I, I suspect we'd not be in a budget crisis now. Let's do what it takes to support all of us, since it takes all of us to keep this nation going."
Eric and Judy are among the 700 business leaders and people in the top 5 percent of wealth and income who make up the Responsible Wealth network. As part of their efforts to end tax breaks for the rich, they are taking the Tax Fairness Pledge--and are calling for other wealthy Americans to join them--to direct their tax savings to organizations that support tax fairness for all Americans.
The Tax Wealth Like Work campaign will be building support for legislative proposals, including the Fairness in Taxation Act (H.R. 1124), which moves toward ending the special tax break for income earned from wealth. The Fairness in Taxation Act would tax capital gains and dividend income as ordinary income for taxpayers with income over $1 million, and create higher income tax brackets for millionaires and billionaires. If enacted in 2011, the Fairness in Taxation Act would raise more than $78 billion. The campaign will closely follow President Obama's upcoming budget statement scheduled for this Wednesday, as well as a possible proposal from the Congressional Progressive Caucus later this week.
Brian Miller, executive director of United for a Fair Economy, adds, "Instead of ending expensive tax breaks for the wealthy that undermine our tax system, Rep. Paul Ryan and his allies are trying to balance the budget on the backs of seniors and struggling Americans. It doesn't have to be this way. By ending the preferential treatment of capital gains and dividends, we can avoid these unnecessary cuts while adding fairness to our tax code. We're glad to be joined by Responsible Wealth members today in a cross-class alliance to end this unfair tax break."
To arrange interviews with the individuals quoted above and other Pledge signers, please contact Mazher Ali or Sue Dorfman at the numbers listed above.
LATEST NEWS
Dozens of UK Universities Warned of Criminal Liability Over Israeli Weapons Investments
"Aiding, abetting and in any other way assisting in the commission of a war crime including 'providing the means for its commission' is a war crime," said the director of a legal group.
May 01, 2024
As U.S. campus protests and the aggressive police response galvanized a growing number of British students to set up their own encampments at universities across the country on Wednesday, a legal group informed dozens of higher education institutions in the U.K. that their investments in weapons manufacturers could leave them open to criminal liability stemming from human rights violations by Israel.
The International Center of Justice for Palestinians (ICJP) warned officers at 82 universities that if they have profited from investments in companies including Elbit Systems, Caterpillar, and BAE Systems, their financial holdings may be linked to weapons used by the Israel Defense Forces in its current escalation against Gaza.
"Aiding, abetting and in any other way assisting in the commission of a war crime including 'providing the means for its commission' is a war crime," said ICJP director Tayab Ali, citing Article 25 of the Rome Statute.
The companies in question also "have a track record of providing equipment that has been used in home demolitions, the illegal Israeli separation wall in the West Bank and around Jerusalem, and other tools of apartheid," said the ICJP, making the universities potentially complicit in Israel's policies in the occupied West Bank.
Dania Abul Haj, senior legal officer for ICJP, said in a statement that "the massive crackdown on civil liberties we are seeing in the U.S. is a huge catalyst" for the group's letter to the universities.
"This money is paid to the universities by the students, and yet their voice is being totally disregarded in how it is being immorally invested," said Abul Haj.
Solidarity encampments were set up at schools including University of Warwick, University of Bristol, and Newcastle University this week.
Students in the U.S., U.K., and other countries have demanded that universities divest from companies in tech, weapons manufacturing, and other industries that contract with Israel.
Student organizers at the University of York celebrated last week as administrators announced it had divested from companies that "primarily make or sell weapons," following mass protests, marches, and rallies held at the school.
"Investment in these companies was already morally bankrupt," Abul Haj toldMiddle East Eye. "In the current circumstances, it is beyond belief that universities, which are educational institutions, paving the way for future generations of leaders and politicians, would continue to invest in them."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Israeli Finance Minister Denounced for Calling for 'Total Annihilation' of Gaza
"But… did he say it on a college campus? Otherwise, it's just not news. Sorry, them's the rules," said one journalist sardonically.
May 01, 2024
In just the latest example of a top Israeli official openly calling for the elimination of Gaza and the 2.3 million Palestinians who live there, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich on Tuesday demanded the destruction of cities and refugee camps in the blockaded enclave.
"There are no half measures," said Smotrich at a government meeting. "Rafah, Deir al-Balah, Nuseirat—total annihilation."
"'You will blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven,'" he added, quoting the biblical story of the nation of Amalek, whose people God commanded the Israelites to exterminate and which right-wing Israeli leaders have long invoked to justify the killing of Palestinians.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also referenced Amalek in the first weeks of Israel's current escalation against Gaza; Smotrich's comments came as he and other government officials pushed Netanyahu to forge ahead with a planned attack on the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1.5 million people have been displaced as other cities across Gaza have been decimated by Israeli forces.
Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), called on President Joe Biden to stop condemning thousands of U.S. college students who have demanded a cease-fire and an end to military aid for Israel and direct his ire toward the Israeli government, which he has repeatedly insisted is targeting Hamas despite its genocidal statements and indiscriminate attacks.
"In case the Israeli government's genocidal intent in Gaza was unclear to anyone despite its daily war crimes against the Palestinian people, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich's words should serve as another wake-up call," said Hooper. "The intent of the Netanyahu government has always been Palestinian land without Palestinians, and violence has always been the route to achieve that heinous goal. Instead of condemning college students, President Biden must condemn Israeli leaders for making and acting on their genocidal threats."
In recent months, Israeli officials have stated that the "migration" of Gaza residents is their ultimate goal in relentlessly attacking the enclave, that all Palestinians in Gaza are "responsible" for a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in October and are legitimate targets, that the enclave should be "flattened," and that the Israel Defense Forces is fighting "human animals."
Journalist Mehdi Hasan sardonically suggested that Smotrich's comments will be deemed acceptable by the Biden administration, members of Congress, and the U.S. corporate media because he didn't "say it on a college campus."
"Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a member of the security cabinet, ought to be fired immediately over his latest remarks," read an editorial in Haaretz Tuesday night that was published as police in New York were storming Columbia University to arrest students. "That's how any properly run country would act, and all the more so a country against which the International Court of Justice in The Hague has issued provisional measures requiring it to refrain from genocide, including one requiring it to deal properly with incitement to genocide."
Smotrich and others have objected to what National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir on Tuesday called a "reckless" deal that would allow for the release of scores of Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners who have long been detained in Israeli jails. The deal would include a 40-day halt in fighting.
CAIR also pointed out Tuesday that five units of Israel's security forces have been accused of committing a "gross violation of human rights," according to a U.S. State Department analysis.
"Our nation's repeated claim that it supports international law and human rights," said national executive director Nihad Awad, "is a cruel illusion."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Florida's Near-Total Ban Shows Real-Life Version of Trump Abortion Policy
"There is one person responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump," said President Joe Biden. "This November, voters are going to teach him a valuable lesson: Don't mess with the women of America."
May 01, 2024
As former Republican U.S. President Donald Trump campaigns on his contribution to reversing
Roe v. Wade and endorses letting states track pregnancies and prosecute those who violate local restrictions on reproductive care, Florida's six-week abortion ban took effect on Wednesday.
Abortion rights have dominated this year's contest between Trump, a Florida resident, and Democratic President Joe Biden—who blamed the presumptive GOP candidate for the new ban, which prohibits care before many patients know they are pregnant.
"There is one person responsible for this nightmare: Donald Trump," Biden said in a campaign statement. "Trump brags about overturning Roe v. Wade, making extreme bans like Florida's possible, saying his plan is working 'brilliantly.' He thinks it's brilliant that more than 4 million women in Florida, and more than 1 in 3 women in America, can't get access to the care they need."
"Trump brags about overturning Roe v. Wade, making extreme bans like Florida's possible."
"Now, he wants to go even further, making it clear he would sign a national abortion ban if elected. Just yesterday, he once again endorsed punishing women for getting the care they need," Biden continued. "Trump is worried the voters will hold him accountable for the cruelty and chaos he created. He's right. Trump ripped away the rights and freedom of women in America. This November, voters are going to teach him a valuable lesson: Don't mess with the women of America."
Florida's six-week ban—signed last spring by a failed Trump primary challenger, Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis—was allowed to go into effect because of a state Supreme Court ruling last month. The same day, the high court approved a ballot initiative—known as Amendment 4—that would outlaw pre-viability abortion bans in Florida. The measure is expected to appear on the November ballot.
Dr. Chelsea Daniels of the Yes on 4 campaign, which is working the pass the ballot measure, said Wednesday that "the women of Florida are in trouble. Today, we awoke to a new world. A world where the state, and not individuals, is in control of our bodies, our lives, and our futures. A world where treatable complications in pregnancies will become life-threatening, not because we don't know how to treat them, but because we won't be allowed."
Daniels continued:
It should go without saying that doctors should not have to risk criminal prosecution to treat the patient in front of them.
But these bans have even more dangerous consequences for patients: a 10-year-old girl from Ohio who was raped had to travel to Indiana to get the abortion she needed, and in Texas, one woman who miscarried lost liters of blood and had to go on a breathing machine before doctors were legally able to intervene and help her. And in Louisiana, we've seen the OB-GYN shortage that anti-abortion bans have caused for the entire state.
"Don't believe the politicians who say there are meaningful exceptions in this law for rape and incest," the doctor added. "The so-called exceptions are a cruel deception designed to fail women and girls when they are most in need."
NBC Newsreported Tuesday that before Florida's new law took effect, abortion clinics in the state had full waiting rooms and "phones were ringing off the hook" as providers were "trying to see as many patients as possible" before Wednesday.
"Tomorrow is going to look very different," Kelly Flynn, CEO of A Woman's Choice of Jacksonville, told the outlet Tuesday. "A lot of patients will come in for the consult and be told that we can't see them."
Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida interim CEO Barbara Zdravecky similarly told the Orlando Sentinel that she expects the group's clinics will have to decline care.
"Planned Parenthood's motto has always been 'care no matter what.' And we don't turn patients away," she said. "So this is a very devastating and tragic situation for our staff, who have to say, 'We can't take care of you, we have to send you someplace else.'"
Zdravecky confirmed clinics will still provide follow-up exams to those who acquire abortion pills online, saying that "we want to be able to assist anyone with any type of care that we legally can do in order to make sure they have the care that they need to stay healthy."
The newspaper noted that "those who can find the funds will travel to other states. For most Floridians, and most of the southeast U.S., the closest state to get an abortion past six weeks will be North Carolina. The closest place to terminate a pregnancy past 12 weeks will be Virginia or Illinois."
"It is horrifying that extremist politicians have forced pregnant people and their healthcare providers into this nightmare. But it does not have to be this way."
Kara Gross, legislative director and senior policy counsel at the ACLU of Florida, said in a statement that "no one should be forced to travel thousands of miles across state lines in search of essential healthcare."
"It is horrifying that extremist politicians have forced pregnant people and their healthcare providers into this nightmare. But it does not have to be this way," Gross added. "Amendment 4, which limits government interference with abortion, will be on the ballot this November and we must all vote yes on 4 to ensure that the freedom to determine whether and when to grow our family remains with the people—not politicians."
Like the ACLU of Florida, Planned Parenthood is among the groups backing the ballot measure. So is Flynn, who founded the independent clinic in Jacksonville over two decades ago.
"I am optimistic that we will have the votes," she said. "In the meantime, we are really talking to patients and explaining to them how important this is to get out and vote."
Keep ReadingShow Less
Most Popular