Secular Café: Income inequity spotlighted on U.S. Income Tax Day

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Income inequity spotlighted on U.S. Income Tax Day Apr 17th 2012, 14:38 Quote: Income inequality highlighted on Tax Day Income inequality is at its worst in nearly a century, with the highest earners paying low tax rates in the face of a massive federal deficit and crumbling public services. To lessen income inequality, we must curb the political power of the very rich. By Robert Reich, Guest blogger / April 17, 2012 As Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., wrote in 1904, "taxes are the price we pay for a civilized society." Robert Reich Robert is chancellor's professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley. He has served in three national administrations, most recently as secretary of labor under President Clinton. Time Magazine named him one of the 10 most effective cabinet secretaries of the last century. He has written 13 books, including "The Work of Nations," his latest best-seller "Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future," and a new e-book, "Beyond Outrage." He is also a founding editor of the American Prospect magazine and chairman of Common Cause. But the wealthiest Americans, who haven't raked in as much of America's income and wealth since the 1920s, are today paying a lower tax rate than they have in over thirty years. Even though America faces a mammoth federal budget deficit. Even though public services at all levels of government continue to be slashed. Even though the median wage is still dropping, adjusted for inflation. Even though the typical American is paying more of his or her earnings in taxes – including payroll taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes – than ever before. I'm not a class warrior. I'm a class worrier. And my worries go to why all this has happened. I worry about the political power than comes with great wealth – such as the power of the wealthy to reduce their taxes, cut the public services most other Americans depend on, while at the same time garnering special subsidies and tax breaks for their businesses – big oil, big pharma, big agriculture, military contractors, big insurance, Wall Street. I worry about the well-financed big lies that the very rich are the nation's "job creators," that the benefits from tax cuts on the rich "trickle down" to everyone else, that American corporations will create more jobs if only their taxes are lowered and if regulations protecting health, safety, and the environment were jettisoned. .... http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/Ro...ted-on-Tax-Day

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