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Fight
Back: Taxes
November 26, 2002
By Joseph Arrieta
The Republicans are trapped and vulnerable on taxes.
The reason no one knows about it is because Democrats haven't
hit them on it yet. It's inexcusable that Republicans have
dominated the discourse and gained vast political mileage
with taxation policy, but the Democrats, in a perverse outcome
on election 2002, have suddenly gotten lucky in this area.
In January the Republicans will simply hand the Democrats
a golden opportunity to take the taxation issue firmly back
into Democratic hands. They're going to try to make the $1.3
trillion dollar tax cut passed in 2001 permanent.
Republicans cut taxes for the rich, Democrats cut taxes
for workers.
40% of the 2001 Bush tax cut goes to the wealthiest 1% of
the population. The only way to fight this from becoming permanent
is for Democrats to propose a tax cut of their own. Otherwise
they'll be boxed into the "tax and spend" black
hole they always allow the Republicans to put them into. [1]
Republicans cut taxes for the rich, Democrats cut taxes
for jobs.
The easiest way to impale the Republicans with their own
politics is to propose a payroll tax grace period of 2 years
for the first $20,000 earned for every worker. If one earns
$60,000 a year the first four months of the pay stub will
contain zero taxes for federal income, social security, and
Medicare taxes. It costs the same as the giveaway to the rich
that Bush wants to make permanent.
Republicans cut taxes for the rich, Democrats cut taxes
for families.
Many Americans are unaware that employers must match an employee's
payroll tax deduction when they file their taxes every quarter.
With no payroll taxes to match, employers will have a much
greater incentive to retain jobs in hard times. Instead of
being phased in over a ridiculously long period like Bush's
tax cut, an immediate payroll tax cut will infuse much-needed
stimulus cash into the economy right away.
Republicans cut taxes for the rich, Democrats cut taxes
for the economy.
It can be maddeningly difficult to get the electorate to
see the tangible positive effects of liberal policy. Nothing
could be more effective to demonstrate liberal effectiveness
than for every worker to see their tax savings in stark ink
every time they get a paycheck. Of course, this is a populist,
progressive tax proposal. It helps the poor and the middle
class immeasurably more than Bush's sop to the wealthy, who
don't need it.
Is this class warfare? Damn right it is. [2] The rich have
been getting richer for the last 40 years, while ordinary
middle class and poor Americans have been falling further
and further behind. If the Republicans want to call it class
warfare, let them. Real Democrats have always fought for ordinary
and poor Americans and should be proud of fighting Bush's
tax cut. Paul Wellstone was greatly admired for it, and so
will the Democrats who fight for a payroll tax.
Republicans fight for the rich, Democrats fight for ordinary
Americans.
Here's a useful job for Terry McAuliffe: hire any decent
JavaScript programmer to write the code for a simple browser
computation. A worker inputs his or her annual income and
hits the compute button. The script immediately spits out
a stark comparison in the differences of Bush tax cut versus
the payroll tax cut for their personal income figure.
Every single Democratic caucus member in Congress links to
this computation file from their official sites. Zel Miller
will whine furiously about it but have to go along, or simply
(hopefully) quit the party. It's impossible to be a Democrat
and favor Bush's tax cut with the payroll tax available as
an alternative.
Republicans cut taxes for the rich, Democrats put food
on the table.
Daschle and Pelosi pick their best debaters, who enthusiastically
wade into the worst dens of Republican propaganda outlets:
Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, and Bill O'Reilly. Running circles
around these simpletons will be fun, and the party leadership
will also be able to wake up in the morning knowing one of
the best journalists of the century won't be calling them
gutless wimps. Daschle and Pelosi carry the ball on the Sunday
morning talk shows.
Republicans cut taxes for the rich, Democrats cut taxes
for small business.
Every single Democratic caucus member gets published in their
district's and state's primary newspaper. It's strange that
more Democrats don't appear in print - television is a wasteland
of crony GOP kiss-assing, but there's unique power in the
printed word, and if Democrats appear in print then editors
will have to run the Republicans responses on why feeling
the pain of the rich is important to them. Good.
If Terry McAuliffe can't raise $5 million in 2 weeks to run
a national television ad campaign exploiting the nauseous
giveaway of the Bush tax cut and the fair Democratic payroll
tax alternative, fire him and hire someone who does. Streisand,
Petty and Bon Jovi can do the voiceovers.
Fiscal discipline, bipartisanship, and lack of clear objectives
from the Democrats delivered the election results of 2002.
Democrats can fight for their beliefs and constituents with
a payroll tax cut, or slide further into their current abyss
of political oblivion.
1. Robert Reich, The American
Prospect [BACK]
2. Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect [BACK]
Joseph Arrieta is a writer and web producer living in San
Jose, California
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