SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Three Reasonable Demands. And Two Requests.
Nov 02, 2011
Occupy Wall Street has been accused of failing to provide specific demands of Wall Street and Congress. But the following three recurring themes are specific and sensible:
(1) Eliminate the 15% capital gains tax. Whose idea was it to claim that unearned income with invented names like "carried interest" should be taxed at a lower rate than wages from labor?
(2) Restore progressive tax rates to end the redistribution of income from the poor to the rich. The share of income going to the richest 1% has nearly TRIPLED over the past 30 years. The chief beneficiaries, those making millions (or billions!) per year, pay no more than 35% on any of their income, and probably a lot less because most of their 'earnings' are capital gains.
(3) Institute a financial transaction tax. Right now American families pay a sales tax of up to 9 percent on shoes for their kids, while millionaire investors pay ZERO percent for a financial instrument. A study by the Chicago Political Economy Group estimated that $537 billion could be generated annually by an FTT. That equates to 15 million jobs at $35,000 per year, which could put ALL unemployed Americans back to work.
In addition to these three reasonable demands, here are two polite requests:
(A) Stop whining about tax rates
Business leaders keep saying the 35% corporate tax rate is too high. Tax cuts, they insist, will spur economic growth and create jobs. But the facts can be found in U.S. Office of Management (OMB) figures, which show that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes (OMB Historical Table 2.1) has dropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.
A PayUpNow.org analysis of the 10-K financial statements of 100 of the largest U.S. companies found that less than 10% of pre-tax profits in 2010 were paid in non-deferred U.S. federal income taxes. If these 100 companies had paid the 35% tax designated by U.S. tax law, an additional $150 billion would have been collected in federal taxes in just one year. This is approximately equal to the total budget deficits for all 50 states.
(B) Call off the dogs (i.e., regressive taxes)
The only budget 'solutions' seem to be increases in sales taxes and utility costs and service fees. And cutbacks at the library, the only place for many Americans to look for a job. And cutbacks of buses and trains, the only way for many Americans to get to a job. And cutbacks in police and fire departments, which are needed with or without a job.
OK 1%, is that specific enough? Maybe you should start paying attention. And start paying for everything a productive society has given you.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is an advocate for social and economic justice, and the author of numerous papers on economic inequality and cognitive science. He was recently named one of 300 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Models. He is the author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (2008) and "Disposable Americans: Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income" (2017). Contact email: paul (at) youdeservefacts.org.
Occupy Wall Street has been accused of failing to provide specific demands of Wall Street and Congress. But the following three recurring themes are specific and sensible:
(1) Eliminate the 15% capital gains tax. Whose idea was it to claim that unearned income with invented names like "carried interest" should be taxed at a lower rate than wages from labor?
(2) Restore progressive tax rates to end the redistribution of income from the poor to the rich. The share of income going to the richest 1% has nearly TRIPLED over the past 30 years. The chief beneficiaries, those making millions (or billions!) per year, pay no more than 35% on any of their income, and probably a lot less because most of their 'earnings' are capital gains.
(3) Institute a financial transaction tax. Right now American families pay a sales tax of up to 9 percent on shoes for their kids, while millionaire investors pay ZERO percent for a financial instrument. A study by the Chicago Political Economy Group estimated that $537 billion could be generated annually by an FTT. That equates to 15 million jobs at $35,000 per year, which could put ALL unemployed Americans back to work.
In addition to these three reasonable demands, here are two polite requests:
(A) Stop whining about tax rates
Business leaders keep saying the 35% corporate tax rate is too high. Tax cuts, they insist, will spur economic growth and create jobs. But the facts can be found in U.S. Office of Management (OMB) figures, which show that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes (OMB Historical Table 2.1) has dropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.
A PayUpNow.org analysis of the 10-K financial statements of 100 of the largest U.S. companies found that less than 10% of pre-tax profits in 2010 were paid in non-deferred U.S. federal income taxes. If these 100 companies had paid the 35% tax designated by U.S. tax law, an additional $150 billion would have been collected in federal taxes in just one year. This is approximately equal to the total budget deficits for all 50 states.
(B) Call off the dogs (i.e., regressive taxes)
The only budget 'solutions' seem to be increases in sales taxes and utility costs and service fees. And cutbacks at the library, the only place for many Americans to look for a job. And cutbacks of buses and trains, the only way for many Americans to get to a job. And cutbacks in police and fire departments, which are needed with or without a job.
OK 1%, is that specific enough? Maybe you should start paying attention. And start paying for everything a productive society has given you.
Paul Buchheit
Paul Buchheit is an advocate for social and economic justice, and the author of numerous papers on economic inequality and cognitive science. He was recently named one of 300 Living Peace and Justice Leaders and Models. He is the author of "American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (2008) and "Disposable Americans: Extreme Capitalism and the Case for a Guaranteed Income" (2017). Contact email: paul (at) youdeservefacts.org.
Occupy Wall Street has been accused of failing to provide specific demands of Wall Street and Congress. But the following three recurring themes are specific and sensible:
(1) Eliminate the 15% capital gains tax. Whose idea was it to claim that unearned income with invented names like "carried interest" should be taxed at a lower rate than wages from labor?
(2) Restore progressive tax rates to end the redistribution of income from the poor to the rich. The share of income going to the richest 1% has nearly TRIPLED over the past 30 years. The chief beneficiaries, those making millions (or billions!) per year, pay no more than 35% on any of their income, and probably a lot less because most of their 'earnings' are capital gains.
(3) Institute a financial transaction tax. Right now American families pay a sales tax of up to 9 percent on shoes for their kids, while millionaire investors pay ZERO percent for a financial instrument. A study by the Chicago Political Economy Group estimated that $537 billion could be generated annually by an FTT. That equates to 15 million jobs at $35,000 per year, which could put ALL unemployed Americans back to work.
In addition to these three reasonable demands, here are two polite requests:
(A) Stop whining about tax rates
Business leaders keep saying the 35% corporate tax rate is too high. Tax cuts, they insist, will spur economic growth and create jobs. But the facts can be found in U.S. Office of Management (OMB) figures, which show that the percent of total tax revenue derived from corporate taxes (OMB Historical Table 2.1) has dropped from about 20% in the 1960s to under 9% in 2010.
A PayUpNow.org analysis of the 10-K financial statements of 100 of the largest U.S. companies found that less than 10% of pre-tax profits in 2010 were paid in non-deferred U.S. federal income taxes. If these 100 companies had paid the 35% tax designated by U.S. tax law, an additional $150 billion would have been collected in federal taxes in just one year. This is approximately equal to the total budget deficits for all 50 states.
(B) Call off the dogs (i.e., regressive taxes)
The only budget 'solutions' seem to be increases in sales taxes and utility costs and service fees. And cutbacks at the library, the only place for many Americans to look for a job. And cutbacks of buses and trains, the only way for many Americans to get to a job. And cutbacks in police and fire departments, which are needed with or without a job.
OK 1%, is that specific enough? Maybe you should start paying attention. And start paying for everything a productive society has given you.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.