The Audacity of Common Sense: Progressive Caucus’ ‘Better Off Budget’

[xchrom]

https://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/03/13-2



***SNIP

The CPC’s focus is to put Americans back to work. It estimates that its budget will create 8.8 million jobs by 2017, bringing unemployment down to 5.5 percent and moving us closer to the full employment economy necessary to begin to lift wages across the board. It offers middle- and low-income Americans a tax break in the first three years to help boost consumer demand and the economy.

Its core strategy is to invest in areas vital to our future, putting people to work on jobs that need to be done. The CPC would meet the challenge of repairing our decrepit infrastructure, and expand investments in R&D and renewable energy. It offers aid to states and localities to rehire police, fire fighters and rebuild public services. It creates jobs corps that would employ the young. It provides a major boost to educating our children, with expanded appropriations for teachers, preschool and rebuilding schools. And instead of shredding the safety net, as Republican budgets demand, it would strengthen it, protecting veterans, expanding child nutrition and food stamp programs, providing seniors with a responsible cost of living adjustment that expands their benefits to meet their costs rather than decreases them.

Then, rather than duck how it would pay for its reforms, as the Ryan budgets do, the CPC details progressive tax reforms and spending cuts to pay for the reforms while paying down the national debt.

The tax reforms are designed to ensure that the rich and corporations pay their fair share of taxes. The CPC would hike taxes on millionaires. It would close oversea tax dodges, thus requiring multinationals to pay taxes at the same rate as domestic corporations. Investors would pay the same tax rates on their investment income as workers on their wages. It would end subsidies to Big Oil, the giveaways to Big Pharma, and limit subsidies to agribusiness. The ten biggest financial institutions would pay a special tax, designed to limit their competitive edge over smaller banks, while repaying taxpayers for the perils they impose on us, a proposal lifted from Republican Rep. Dave Camp’s tax reform bill.

[Faux pas]

1. Seems like a dream...

that needs to come true. GoCPC!

[LonePirate]

2. By far the best proposed budget circulating in DC but it won't receive a second of publicity.

We would definitely be better off with this budget.

[xchrom]

3. kick