http://kucinich.us/issues/taxes.phpOur tax system is in need of desperate repair. Tax cuts to the wealthiest one percent of Americans do not create jobs and do not increase wages for working people. The only way to real economic strength and security is to provide real tax relief to those who need it most, workers and families. I have a tax plan that enables real economic growth and progressive tax reform while providing fiscal responsibility.
It is a national shame that people in the bottom 20% in our society pay 18% of their income in taxes, while the Department of Labor statistics shows that those in the top 20% pay but 19%. That is not the progressive tax system that Americans need. The working poor and middle class must have the heavy yoke of taxes lifted from their back by those who have much. The first step in doing this is to rescind the $2 trillion dollar Bush tax cuts for the rich and replace them with tax cuts for the poor and middle class, by eliminating Social Security taxes for the first $25,000 in income and expanding Social Security covered wages to include all salaries. After all, it is easier to pay Social Security taxes when you are making a $1 million a year than when you are making $10,300 a year in a minimum-wage job.
The 2001, 2002, and 2003 Bush tax cuts have created a tax system that favors the wealthy over the working class. These tax cuts have complicated the tax code with more loopholes and have saddled the federal treasury with record deficits.
In response, I have introduced a bill that creates a more fair, simple, and adequate tax system that provides significant relief to workers and families. The Progressive Tax Act of 2003 gives $87 billion per year to people with modest income and to families in the middle class. The bill collects an additional $107 billion per year from the Bush tax cuts, corporate tax loopholes, and other tax giveaways. The bill therefore raises a sum total of $20 billion per year that remains available for deficit reduction or new spending.
First, the bill provides a refundable $1530 Payroll Tax Credit for people who work. This tax credit is simple, targeted to relieve a high tax burden, provides a stimulus effect, and encourages work.
Second, the bill provides a refundable $2000 Simplified Family Credit. This simplifies the tax code by consolidating the Earned Income Tax Credit, Child Tax Credit, Additional Child Credit, and exemption for children into one Simplified Family Credit. This tax credit will provide greater transparency, provide extra work incentives, and a stimulus effect.
To raise federal revenue, the bill will close corporate loopholes and set tougher penalties to prevent corporate tax shelter abuse. In addition, the bill will roll back most of the Bush tax cuts in the past three years that benefited the wealthy.
Tax cuts for millionaires have failed repeatedly to create jobs. Making permanent the tax cuts that were temporary, the ones that were supposed to give the economy a quick boost, would cost us another $1 trillion, but it won't create jobs. The Progressive Tax Act will allow the Democratic Party to put its money where its motto is: in the hands of the working people.
http://kucinich.us/issues/MEDIA_SUMMARY_OF_TAX_BILL.pdf
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