Wealthy group pushes to be taxed MORE

[babylonsister]

:wow:


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/08/09/BU9S1915CD.DTL

Wealthy group pushes to be taxed more
Tom Petruno, Los Angeles Times
Sunday, August 9, 2009


Upper-income earners who actually want to pay higher taxes have launched a public campaign calling for an immediate rollback of the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush.

The group, which calls itself Wealth for the Common Good, believes that people who have taxable income of more than $235,000 a year should support restoring their top federal income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 35 percent - and now, not in 2011, when the higher rate is scheduled to return anyway.

From their Web site:

"Our country is facing the worst economic challenge since the Great Depression and an urgent need to make a long overdue investment in bringing jobs and stability back to our communities. This investment should be paid for, in part, by repealing the Bush-era tax cuts our country cannot afford.

"Those of us with taxable incomes over $235,000 benefited from the upside of the economy during the last decade and profited for eight years from a 2001 tax cut. Now is the time to give back.

"We would see a minimal tax increase - from 35 (percent) to 39.6 (percent), a rate still far lower than the one under President (Ronald) Reagan - but the increased revenue would raise an estimated $43 billion per year."

The group's founders include Chuck Collins, who inherited some of the Oscar Mayer meat fortune and who has long been involved in agitating on income-inequality issues.

He may be best known for co-writing the 2003 book "Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes" with Bill Gates Sr. The book made the case for retaining the federal estate tax.

This month, Wealth for the Common Good sent its request, including a petition with more than 1,000 signatures, to President Obama and to House and Senate leaders.

[TexasObserver]

1. Recommend

[Armchair QB]

2. Are these people not aware that they can pay higher income taxes

simply by not claiming deductions or claiming the standard deduction? I'm always amazed by the rich people who demand laws to force them to pay more in income taxes when all they do is claim deductions that reduce the amount they pay anyway.

I'm all for people who make more money paying more taxes, but how about those with off shore bank accounts and trust funds that aren't subject to being taxed as regular income stop hiding that money in those tax havens and pony up some of that money they're all to eager to pay if the government would only pass a law to force them to do so.

I can see why GOPers would need to be forced, but progressives?

[Cresent City Kid]

4. They might be doing what you suggest already

I don't know for certain, but it seems they're talking about raising taxes on the unwilling rich. Why else start a public campaign to change the law?

I like the idea. "Read our lips, raise our taxes!"

[Armchair QB]

9. You might be right

but until there is a real tax on wealth in this country, the rich will stay rich and the poor will struggle for scraps from the table.

I applaud their call but I still ask, what are they doing NOW, without threat of prosecution

[kelly1mm]

10. They could simply write a check to the treasury

if they wanted to in addition to not taking their deductions. The newspapers have little snippet stories about someone doing this once and a while - one I remember was an immigrant who wanted to thank America for being the "land of opportunity".
What this is about is wanting others to pay what they think is fair. I'm not disagreeing with them I just don't see how they are really different than any other group pushing an agenda, although one could argue that most groups push agendas that are directly beneficial to themselves with as little cost to themselves. I would argue that this would benefit the "rich" in the long run by providing a more stable government/country in which to do business.

[Cresent City Kid]

5. self delete - dupe

[drm604]

6. There are some who do not want to pay the higher taxes.

They're not just talking about themselves.

[HughBeaumont]

3. Let's hope Obama follows suit and rolls back the damaging Bewsh tax cuts NOW.

Amazing they're not all Jack Welchers.

While we're at it, let's fix the massively damaging policy of the Social Security cap, which the wealthy get to skate out of paying their fair share on in comparison to the rest of us. Everything in the way of wages earned over $106,800 isn't subject to Social Security taxes. This means $115 billion will not be going into that fund, which is expected to go broke by 2037. Naturally, the Steve Forbes of the world will laugh at the thought, since they really have no stake in Social Security thanks to their extreme wealth. The rest of us will suffer, as this could be a bulk of our income when retirement comes.

You know, unless you're an expert market timer who earns and can save a lot of money.

[a la izquierda]

7. Sounds like something my uncle would do.

He's loaded. He has no children and is a hardcore lefty. He works in the financial industry, yet wrote to his congressfolks urging they not pass the bank bailouts, because there was zero guarantee they would work and it would make the country worse off (he seems to be wrong on that one at the moment, but I totally get where his thinking was). He's gay, and unlike my mother (also gay), he will never support Republicans because of these views--not for himself, per se, but for his brothers and sisters who deserve to marry.
He's a self-made man, incredibly intelligent and charitable. I could totally see him supporting something like this.

[Laelth]

8. k&r for honesty and integrity. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[Wednesdays]

11. K&R

:kick: