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Taxes

A Wealth Tax Might Be Easier to Implement than You Think

August 6, 2019 By Steve Wamhoff, Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy , , ,
A direct federal tax on wealth, as described in a January report from ITEP and proposed by Sen. Elizabeth Warren, could raise substantial revenue to make public investments, curb rising inequality, and is supported by a large majority of Americans. But would it work? Recent research highlighted in a new academic paper outlines approaches that would make it easier than you might think. At the outset, it is helpful to remember why we need a federal wealth tax and what the challenges are in implementing one.  The nation’s income tax by itself fails to place a sufficient constraint on growing economic inequality. Our income tax simply does not tax all types of income that wealthy people have.

Nicaraguan ‘Human Rights’ Director Accused By Staff Of Massive Theft Of US Taxpayer Money, Death Toll Inflation

August 3, 2019 Nan McCurdy, Thegrayzone.com , ,
A year after a US-backed coup attempt rocked Nicaragua, a major scandal is unfolding over the alleged theft of half a million dollars in US taxpayer money by an organization at the center of the destabilization effort. Three board members of the Nicaraguan Association for Human Rights (ANPDH) have denounced their former director, Álvaro Leiva, accusing him of stealing almost half a million dollars in funding provided by the US government’s National Endowment for Democracy and other US soft power outfits.

The Exploitation Time Bomb

July 29, 2019 Jayati Ghosh, Project Syndicate. , , ,
New Delhi – Since reducing inequality became an official goal of the international community, income disparities have widened. This trend, typically blamed on trade liberalization and technological advances that have weakened the bargaining power of labor vis-à-viscapital, has generated a political backlash in many countries, with voters blaming their economic plight on “others” rather than on national policies. And such sentiments of course merely aggravate social tensions without addressing the root causes of worsening inequality. But in an important new article, University of Cambridge economist José Gabriel Palma argues that national income distributions are the result not of impersonal global forces, but rather of policy choices that reflect the control and lobbying power of the rich.

Let’s Establish A Wealth Tax — And Give Every Family $25,000 A Year

July 24, 2019 John R. Talbott, Truthout.org , ,
Three men in the U.S. have more accumulated wealth than half of all Americans, 165 million people. Our corporations control more shareholder wealth than 99 percent of Americans combined. 90 percent of us have less than 7 percent of the wealth in the country if you exclude pension assets, which may be of great interest to younger Americans given the difficulty in today’s market of finding a job with pension benefits. Like most, you probably think the U.S. tax system is progressive, that rich people pay a higher percentage than low-income people.

A Bus Tour Pushes For Higher Taxes On The Rich

July 17, 2019 By Jarod Facundo, Inequality.org , ,
The GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted late in 2017, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported late this spring, has been a smashing success — for the U.S. corporations that have been smashing workers for the past four decades. Under the tax cut, the estimated average corporate tax rate has dropped from 23.4 to 12.1 percent while workers have seen “no indication of a surge in wages.” Now, nearly two years after the legislation passed, organizers want members of Congress to know they’re still fighting this massive upwards redistribution of wealth.

A Bus Tour Pushes For Higher Taxes On The Rich

July 16, 2019 By Jarod Facundo, Inequality.org , ,
The GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act enacted late in 2017, the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service reported late this spring, has been a smashing success — for the U.S. corporations that have been smashing workers for the past four decades. Under the tax cut, the estimated average corporate tax rate has dropped from 23.4 to 12.1 percent while workers have seen “no indication of a surge in wages.” Now, nearly two years after the legislation passed, organizers want members of Congress to know they’re still fighting this massive upwards redistribution of wealth.

Return Of The Poll Tax

July 13, 2019 By Robert P. Alvarez, Otherwords.org , , ,
The poll tax Florida Governor Ron DeSantis just signed into law may cost his state $365 million a year — indefinitely.  DeSantis and the GOP-led Florida legislature recently made quick work of dismantling Amendment 4, a voter-approved ballot initiative that would’ve restored the right to vote to Floridians with felony convictions who’d completed their sentences (except those convicted of sex offenses or murder). Sixty-five percent of voters approved the initiative.

Colorado Surpasses $1 Billion In Marijuana Tax Revenue

June 15, 2019 Carina Julig, The Denver Post. , , ,
Colorado has surpassed $1 billion in tax revenue from marijuana sales since recreational use was legalized in 2014. Marijuana tax, license and fee revenue has reached $1.02 billion, and marijuana sales over $6.5 billion, the Colorado Department of Revenue announced in a news release. Colorado has 2,917 licensed marijuana businesses and 41,076 licensed individuals working in the industry. Marijuana revenue funds a range of youth and public health programs in Colorado, including mental health services, youth literacy initiatives and anti-bullying programs in schools. Marijuana tax revenue goes to both state and local governments. “This industry is helping grow our economy by creating jobs and generating valuable revenue that is going towards preventing youth consumption, protecting public health and safety and investing in public school construction,” Governor Polis said in a statement.

You Pay Your Taxes. Corporations Should Too.

April 17, 2019 By Patti Lynn, Corporateaccountability.org ,
This tax season, Amazon filed for a $129 million refund. How much did you get back? Maybe you were one of the many people who got less in refunds then they expected—or actually had to pay taxes for the first time in many years. Or maybe not. But either way, as this tax season comes to a close, it’s clear that corporations and the ultra-wealthy were the ones that made out the best under the Trump administration’s 2017 tax cut. And that’s not surprising, given that they were the ones putting enormous pressure on our elected officials to pass it.

Massachusetts Begins Round Two In Its Fight To Tax Millionaires

April 16, 2019 By Jen Wofford, Inequality.org , ,
Activists in Massachusetts were disappointed when the state’s Supreme Court struck down a ballot initiative last year to increase taxes on millionaires. But they’re already gearing up for round two. Their second try for the Fair Share Amendment – also known as the millionaire’s tax – began with a legislative hearing Thursday. Two hundred people, led by the Raise Up Massachusetts Coalition, packed the statehouse for a hearing on the Fair Share Amendment. The proposal, first brought about as a citizen’s amendment that would have appeared on the 2018 ballot, would impose an additional 4 percent tax on incomes over 1 million.  The resulting revenue would fund public education and transportation infrastructure.

How Momentum Is Growing To Tax The Rich And Reduce Inequality

April 15, 2019 Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese, Clearing the FOG. , , ,
In the middle of the last century, there was a large and secure working class. Then, changes to the tax structure distributed more and more of the wealth to the richest and hollowed out the middle class. Now, levels of inequality in the United States are unsustainable as the top one-tenth of one percent (0.1%) has wealth equal to the bottom 80%. Momentum is growing to make the tax system more fair at both the state and federal levels. We speak with Sam Pizzigati about the history of taxes and what policies are currently being proposed.

US Workers Are Paying High Taxes. But Without Any Of The Benefits.

April 15, 2019 Matt Bruenig, Jacobinmag.com ,
Comparing labor tax rates across countries is a tricky endeavor. Some countries rely mostly on income and payroll taxes charged to workers, others on payroll taxes charged to employers, and still others on compelling workers and employers to pay private parties who provide pension and health insurance products. To get an apples-to-apples comparison, you have to normalize all of these various schemes into a single labor tax concept that actually reflects just how much labor compensation is being put towards compulsory payments of one sort or another.

End Taxes That Favor The Rich; Confront Inequality And Implement An Ecosocialist Green New Deal

April 15, 2019 Howie Hawkins, Popular Resistance , ,
One area where the two parties of the millionaires and billionaires put in place policies that favor the rich are tax laws. Tax policy has favored the wealthy under both parties, but the Trump-administration has brought this tax corruption to new levels. We need to transform tax policy to build the working class base of the economy, shrink the wealth divide, and confront the climate crisis. An honest analysis of the tax code calls out in stark detail the extreme injustice of the economy in the United States. The tax system favors the wealthy as low- and middle-income people are hit the hardest while big business and high-income people are subsidized.

4 Pharma Companies Saved $7 Billion From GOP Tax Law

April 13, 2019 Bob Herman, Axios.com ,
Four pharmaceutical companies — Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer, Merck and Abbott Laboratories — collectively kept $7 billion in tax savings in 2018 due to Republicans' 2017 corporate tax overhaul, according to a new Oxfam report. The bottom line: Oxfam's results mirror our reporting, which shows pharmaceutical companies in particular have benefited from bringing back billions of dollars in overseas profits that have sat untaxed. However, this report says the tax savings have not led to other social goods, like more research investment in new drugs or lower drug prices.

US Workers Are Highly Taxed If You Count Premiums

April 11, 2019 Matt Bruenig, Peoplespolicyproject.org , ,
Comparing labor tax rates across countries is a tricky endeavor. Some countries rely mostly on income and payroll taxes charged to workers, others on payroll taxes charged to employers, and still others on compelling workers and employers to pay private parties who provide pension and health insurance products. To get an apples-to-apples comparison, you have to normalize all of these various schemes into a single labor tax concept that actually reflects just how much labor compensation is being put towards compulsory payments of one sort or another.
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