Earlier this evening, we looked at how the rich and politically-connected have used their wealth and power to lower their tax rates and we looked at a Robert Reich video about how they've undermined the concept of inheritance taxes. This morning Reich had an interesting Facebook post up that explains the chart above.
One of the major feats of the American oligarchy has been to use their political power to reduce their tax rates, so they can accumulate even more while contributing even less. The chart below shows how effective they've become since 1990. Bear in mind that in the 1950s, when America's super-wealthy raked in a far smaller fraction of the nation's total personal income, the highest marginal tax rate was 91 percent-- and their effective rate (after deductions and credits) was well over 50 percent.Their goal is to gain control over most of the nation's assets, while paying little or no income, capital-gains, or estate taxes on any of it. The current batch of Republican candidates are all offering tax plans that would advance this goal.
It's time to get serious-- if you haven't already-- about breaking with the corrupt and corrosive establishment, not by heading off towards the "strong-leader," fascist approach that animates the campaigns of Herr Trumpf and Ted Cruz, but by committing to electing the one leader who has analyzed this correctly from Day One and has been working on solving it for three decades: Bernie Sanders. Hillary Clinton isn't going to do anything but preserve the status quo. If Cruz and Trumpf are reactionaries, she is the conservative in this race. Please watch this short video and then consider making a contribution to Bernie's campaign. Happy New Year?
