The One Answer: Tax the Rich

[Donnachaidh]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/robert-parry/38622/the-one-answer-tax-the-rich

It is curious that the American Right, which waxes nostalgic for the happier days of the 1950s when the United States was supposedly more moral and more united, ignores one of the central reasons behind that middle-class era: very high taxes on the rich.

Granted, some on the Right may love the Fifties because it was a time of racial segregation and second-class status for women. But what arguably made the era work was the fact that the U.S. tax structure "disincentivized" greed by ensuring that excess wealth was mostly recycled back into the Treasury for use building the nation and supporting research and development.

During Dwight Eisenhower's presidency the top marginal tax rate - what the richest Americans paid on their top tranche of income - was around 90 percent. In the 1960s, under John F. Kennedy, that was lowered to around 70 percent, but that rate still meant the rich had a limited incentive to be greedy since they wouldn't get to keep most of their extra money.

All that changed with Ronald Reagan's presidency and his slashing of the top marginal tax rate by more than half (before it was adjusted upward slightly late in Reagan's years and then during Bill Clinton's presidency before being reduced again to 35 percent under George W. Bush).

More at the link --

[dkf]

1. So taxes are more important that manufacturing moving offshore?

I think we have really misdiagnosed the problem here.

[Jkid]

2. More revenue, less chance for budget cuts.

[doc03]

3. What ever happened to the tax break they get

for moving offshore? Every so often for several years I hear a Democrat say we have to get rid of that tax break. I don't hear about that anymore, did they get rid of it? I bet not.

[kentuck]

4. No. They got a donation instead...

to forget about it.

[doc03]

6. I heard yesterday on Thom Hartman I believe there were

just 300 and some lobbyists in Washington when Saint Ronnie took office and now there are over 37000. Until we get the lobbyists out of Washington I don't see much hope for this country.

[closeupready]

10. That's right. And besides, since Congress is full of multi-millionaires, 'what's your hurry?'

:sarcasm:

[dkf]

7. The entire code needs to be changed to incentivize manufacturing and jobs here.

And we should subsidize industries if faced with unfair competition or we need to use trade laws. Whatever it takes.

But taxes should be used as a tool to further goals of expanding private jobs. Frankly with entitlements exploding anything else depending on government spending is going to be crowded out.

[TBF]

8. I am going to give you the same chart I posted for you in another

thread, but that you must've missed:



We need to think Eisenhower (1950s). Try to remember which site you're at.

[closeupready]

9. All part of the same problem - if they can boost bottom lines, they take home huge amounts.

With a more progressive tax system, offshoring isn't nearly as rewarding and ultimately not worth the PR headache such practice engenders.

[kenfrequed]

15. Well

Interstingly enough the reduction in tax rates seem to occur leading up to the deindustrialization. Im not saying there is a causation/correlation here but both things did occur around the same times and both had similar ideologies guiding them.

Selecting an either/or is a mistake and no one had suggested that deindustrialization was NOT a factor. We were talking about one of the factors we knew to have an effect on debt, infrastructure, and the disintegration of the middle class.

[Uben]

5. No, I'm not paying any more taxes.....

...this is my last twenty dollar bill and I'm not breaking it!

[blindpig]

11. Tax them until their eyes bleed.

k&r

[Hotler]

13. +1

I have no hope. I see no future.

[salinen]

12. It's not 35%

it's 15%. And the rich will be the deciders if they pay more taxes. They're employees (Congress) will protect them.

[reformist2]

14. How many people remember the 50s?!

I hate to say it, but I don't think it's all that big a voting block anymore. :(