President Obama is ’spreading the wealth,’ that is, taxing the rich and
redistributing the wealth. Good policy or heavy-handed intrusion?
By David R. Francis
The Christian Science Monitor
May 3, 2010
“When you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody,” presidential
candidate Barack Obama famously told an Ohio man, soon dubbed “Joe the
Plumber.”
With passage by Congress of healthcare reform, Joe [...]
North Star Fund Community Blog
Posted by Alison Goldberg on April 23, 2010
During this “tax season” some wealthy people are advocating to increasetheir own taxes. A growing network of high-income individuals and business people are calling on Congress and the President to say, “Let my tax cut go!”
This dialogue was the focus of a Wealth for the Common [...]
Published 13 April 2010 in the Metro West Daily News. Linked from dailynewstribune.com.
By Clark Taylor
Think of taxes in taste terms. We’ve been conditioned to think of taxes in disgusting, bitter terms something like bad-tasting medicine to be avoided whenever possible.
But consider another possibility: taxes are the delightful taste of a healthy democratic economy that works [...]
Published in The Hill on 7 April 2010. Linked from On The Money blog.
By Vicki Needham
Increasing taxes on the nation’s wealthiest Americans would collect $450 billion in new revenue, while discouraging financial speculation, strengthen the economy and provide greater transparency, fairness and simplicity to the tax code, according to a new proposal released Wednesday. [...]
Published in Forbes Online on 07 April 2010. Linked from Forbes.com.
By William P. Barrett
In 1776 the United States became perhaps the only country ever to be founded after a revolution based largely on the explicit issue of tax rates. More than two centuries later the issue still resonates loudly, and not just among [...]
Published in The Nation on 06 April 2010. Linked from the Editor’s Clut blog on TheNation.com
By Katrina vanden Heuvel
The challenge for progressives and Democrats in these turbulent times is how to consistently and clearly explain the real causes of our current economic condition.
One problem is that we live in a center-left country with a center-right [...]
Published in Common Dreams on 29 March 2010. Linked from CommonDreams.org. Distributed by MinuteMan media.
By Gene Mulligan
As Congress begins debate over what to do about the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthy, I hope it has the courage to let my tax cuts expire. It would be the right thing to do.
Back in 2001, Congress [...]
Published in the Providence Journal on 5 March 2010. Linked from projo.com. Distributed by MinuteMan media.
By Naomi Sobel
President Obama has made it clear that he wants to erase the Bush-era tax cuts for the highest earners in the country, even as he preserves the tax cuts for middle- and working-class Americans.
There are plenty of Republicans [...]
Published on 17 December 2009 on City Brights.
By Drummond Pike, Founder and CEO of Tides.
The Wall Street Journal reports that the effort to extend the current Estate Tax regime through next year has failed. As part of the Bush tax cuts, the exemption, above which taxes are due, has been slowly rising. The Conservative plan, put [...]
Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune News Service on 17 December 2009.
By Bill Gates Sr. and Chuck Collins
Imagine a story about tax policy created by horror writer Stephen King. A fictional Congress, divided between anti-tax ideology and fiscal responsibility, amends the inheritance tax on the very wealthy so that it disappears entirely one year and then returns at [...]