As secretary of the Virginia Beach TEA (Taxed Enough Already) Party, I often get asked, “How can you be a part of that organization if you want to raise taxes?” The answer is, I don’t want to raise taxes for 99.8% of Americans. I want to lower income and property taxes for most Americans. Wealth inequality is so massive (see my Economic Justice) that we can simply tax the extremely wealthy more, allowing us to not only reduce taxes for most Americans, but also afford the following programs.
I often hear middle class Republicans bemoan the fact that Democrats want to raise their taxes to fund social programs. This then leads to fighting between the two parties. This is stupid. We need to stop fighting with each other, and demand more from the super rich.
I fully support Bernie Sanders’ tax policies*. No one has fought more for the middle and struggling class than Bernie. His policies are comprehensive, sound, and will restore the middle class.
These taxes will ensure we can generate more growth and:
- Lower property and income taxes for most Americans
- Eliminate medical debt
- Protect and increase Social Security
- Ensure healthcare for all
- Ensure housing for all
- Enact a new New Deal (infrastructure, jobs, support for small businesses, and mental healthcare for all)
- Ensure education for all
- Ensure universal childcare/Pre-K
Bernie’s Policies:
- Companies with large gaps between their CEO and median worker pay would see progressively higher corporate tax rates. (Lean more here)
- Pass the For the 99.8 Percent Act to establish a progressive estate tax on multi-millionaire and billionaire inheritances. (Learn more here)
- Eliminate offshore tax scams through the Corporate Tax Dodging Prevention Act. (Learn more here)
- Tax Wall Street speculators through the Inclusive Prosperity Act. (A 0.5% tax on Wall Street trades) - (Learn more here)
- Scrap the income cap on Social Security payroll taxes through the Social Security Expansion Act so that millionaires and billionaires pay more into the system. (Learn more here)
*(I support this bill for the exception that I wouldn’t increase the SS tax on workers who didn’t inherit their wealth that make under $2 million annually.)
- End special tax breaks on capital gains and dividends for the top 1%. (Learn more here)
- Substantially increase the top marginal tax rate on income above $10 million. (Learn more here)
- Close tax loopholes that benefit the wealthy and large corporations. (Learn more here)
Establish an annual tax on the extreme wealth of the top 0.1 percent of U.S. households:
- Only apply to net worth of over $32 million and anyone who has a net worth of less than $32 million, would not see their taxes go up at all under this plan.
- Will raise an estimated $4.35 trillion over the next decade and cut the wealth of billionaires in half over 15 years, which would substantially break up the concentration of wealth and power of this small privileged class.
- Ensure that the wealthy are not able to evade the tax by implementing strong enforcement policies. (Learn more here).
By implementing these policies, we can generate $1.5 trillion annually to help balance the budget and fund new programs for middle- and low-income Americans.