One of the key line-in-the-sand differences between Republicans and Democrats is how the two parties spend tax dollars and from who they collect tax dollars. That line has been blurring, first under Clinton and now under Obama. Republicans conveniently want to lessen the tax burden on their wealthy campaign contributors at the expense of the middle class.
If there's one lesson I'm getting out of the new Elizabeth Warren book, A Fighting Chance, so far, it's that the system is rigged-- fixed against ordinary Americas to favor economic and political elites. "Economic and political elites"... where is the line that even differentiates them these days?
Please go back one post and read Part I, where we began our look at the tax extenders (i.e., corporate loopholes) bill the Senate Finance Committee is getting ready to sneak through and present as a fait acompli, an incredible transpartisan exercise in Beltway corruption.
On April 2, the Senate Finance Committee is planning to renew 55 major tax breaks worth $700 billion over 10 years, which is mostly to the benefit of the corporations like General Electic, Goldman Sachs and Citigroup, which underwrite the political careers of our political elite in general and the members of the Senate Finance Committee in particular.
Although he occasionally writes a check to Democratic corporate whores who serve Wall Street and fight for the plutocracy-- like Chuck Schumer, Kirsten Gillibrand, Andrew Cuomo, Steve Israel and Cory Booker-- in the last few election cycles Ken Langone has contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars-- at least $800,000-- to the Republican Party
American billionaires pay virtually no taxes in relation to the amount of wealth they have accumulated. We usually read about it-- if ever-- in regard to the unconscionable and growing wealth back in our country. Income inequality is starting to come up, albeit just barely, as a topic of discussion among political elites. But this weekend, the NY Times pointed to another consequence: the privatization of scientific research.
Chris Horwitz is CEO of Electrogrip, which has manufactured equipment for the semiconductor industry for the past 25 years in Pittsburgh, PA. Electrogrip also makes precision large optical components; some of them for the new James Webb Space Telescope, which will be replacing NASA's Hubble Telescope in the near future. Last night was his guest guest post here at DWT. We are hoping there will be plenty more.It seems so obvious-- reduce taxes on business and remove those awful tax loopholes that make taxes so complex, so that businesses can thrive.
Whether Huntsman was the one who revealed that multimillionaire GOP tax cheat Mitt Romney paid no taxes at all for years, what we do know for sure is that for the years he did pay something his rate was 13.9%, considerably less than the 35% the very rich are supposed to pay.
First of all, derailing Obamacare is NOT the only thing Republican Teabaggers care about. Ted Cruz, in fact, has an entire vision for America's future that Maureen Dowd set out to explain in Sunday's NY Times. It may be a little dystopian but the low taxes crowd will love it nonetheless.
Another entitled multimillionaire in Congress undermining the lives of ordinary AmericansIf you caught the post Monday about how the DCCC recruits too many damned millionaires who have no way of relating to ordinary working families, you may have noticed that Maryland multimillionaire backbencher John Delaney spent $2,370,556 last year to buy himself a seat, the third most among the wealthy Democ
