It is time for us to consider a tax on families making more than $500,000 a year. Our state is flat broke and the tax system is unfair. Currently, our state places the tax burden on low and moderate income citizens through a combination of sales, property, and small businesses taxes. According to the Economic Opportunity Institute (EOI) the lowest income citizens pay the highest percentage of their income in taxes, while the wealthiest pay the smallest amount. In fact, our structure is so outdated and inefficient that we have the most regressive tax system in the country. Even Louisiana and Mississippi and Texas laugh at us which is saying something.
Moreover, not only is the tax system unfair it does not provide enough revenue to finance basic services including education, transportation, health care, or early learning. If, for example, we want to truly ensure that all children in this state enter school ready to learn and are reading at grade level, we need to spend considerable more resources than we are right now. A fairer and more progressive tax structure is needed. I for one support a tax on the rich to get it done!
For more information please go to http://www.eoionline.org/tax_reform/reports/FairerTaxesForWashington-Apr08.pdf
Joel
4 comments:
So what do we do when they run out of money? Still be in the same place? Statically speaking "rich" as we so call them donate more than what tax's would get form them. (Consider what percent of the tax's are put into administration, other expenditures, other programs, and golden parachutes). The scary question being, do you really think the politicians are going to trickle that money down to our single programs? They have done a bang up job of bankrupting our other programs, hence why our medicare, medicaid, and retirement systems are looking so solid. I think getting on the rich peoples good side and getting a donation would be much more promising than having their businesses go under because they cannot afford the tax's, and leaving us in the same situation as where we currently are. Why work when all the rewards will be siphoned away?
Besides.. everyone under the sun is trying to compete for the funds that would come from that. Socialistic approaches to have a few fund everyone's program doesn't work. (Historically proven). Tax's are not the issue.. those would be siphoned off quickly to other venues.
It is frightening what the conservative have done in the past 8 years and beyond. In listening to NPR, it seems as though many conservatives have been placed in federal positions (not appointees) in which they can control what happens in government. Also, the use of contractors is costing the taxpayers billions instead of using civil servants-government employees, to do the good work they do,. The contractors are able to have almost free rein to operate with little or no accountability-and at a higher cost. Big business and the rich and making money and want to keep it that way.
It is time we started looking deeper into who is in positions of making decisions on a daily basis.
Post a Comment