Sanders _ The Tax Bill is Immoral

For the past 40 years, the financial and political elite of this country have rigged the tax code to redistribute wealth and income to some of the richest and most powerful people in this country. The result: we are moving rapidly toward an oligarchic form of society in which the top 1 percent is doing phenomenally well, the middle class continues to decline and 40 million Americans are living in poverty.

And it will probably not surprise you to learn that just as our tax code benefits the wealthiest people in this country, it also benefits some of the largest and most profitable corporations in the world with a myriad of tax breaks, deductions, credits and other loopholes. As a result, one out of five large profitable corporations today pays nothing in federal taxes.

Plutocracy, Paralysis, and the Great Depression

“Specifically, money buys power, and the increasing wealth of a tiny minority has effectively bought the allegiance of one of our two major political parties , in the process destroying any prospect for cooperation.

And the takeover of half our political spectrum by the 0.01 percent is, I’d argue, also responsible for the degradation of our economic discourse, which has made any sensible discussion of what we should be doing impossible.

All the evidence points, however, points to a simple lack of demand, which could be and should be cured very quickly through a combination of fiscal and monetary stimulus.

No, the real structural problem is in the political system, which has been warped and paralyzed by the power of a small, wealthy minority.  And the key to economic recovery lies in finding a way to get past that minority’s malign influence. “  Paul Krugman. May 4,2012.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/04/opinion/krugman-plutocracy-paralysis-perplexity.html?_r=1

Tax choices for California

by Duane Campbell

It is time that California work again for people who work for a living. There are over 2 million working people who lost their jobs in the financial crisis through no fault of their own.  They would be happy to be working and paying taxes again.  California must reinvest in our schools to make certain that every child has access to the kinds of public schools that will prepare them to compete in the global economy.

Public schools  are being decimated amidst budget cuts and the growing accumulation of wealth by the 1%. The Courage Campaign, CA Calls and the CA Federation of Teachers have partnered to get a Millionaire's Tax on the November ballot.  The Millionaire's Tax would raise $6 billion for public education, safety, and infrastructure by raising additional taxes on those making more than $1 million a year. 

There is a competing tax initiative by Governor Brown that asks us all to pay a temporary  increased sales tax – and it will produce no new money for the schools. If working people and the middle class are going to take a hit in tough times it shouldn’t be to pay for the tax breaks for millionaires and the big companies that ship our jobs overseas.  It’s time the middle class stop picking up the tab while the rich and the big corporations get loopholes and tax dodges.  Its time that the rich and the corporations start living by the same rules  and pay their fair share of taxes.