Ethics & Religion
Column #1,995
November 7, 2019
Time To Tax The Rich
By Mike McManus
It's time to raise taxes on the rich.
The tax cut pushed by President Trump and passed by Congress resulted in
a horrific situation that by 2018 the 400 richest Americans paid a lower
tax rate than any other income group, according to a new book, The
Triumph of Injustice by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zuchman.
America's billionaires paid an average tax rate of 23% - way down from
70% paid by their counterparts in 1950. Meanwhile, the bottom 10% of
wage earners paid an average of 26% - up from 16% paid in 1950. Yikes!
Columnist Nicholas Kristoff charged, "This is a legal corruption that
President Trump magnified that predated him and will outlast him. This
is America's cancer."
As Warren Buffet, a billionaire, honestly confessed, "There's class
warfare, all right. But it's my block, the rich class, that's making out
and we're winners!"
With what result? America's annual deficit is now about a trillion
dollars!
Several Democratic Presidential candidates, such as Sen. Elizabeth
Warren, have suggested raising taxes on the rich - not to reduce the
deficit but to pay for new spending programs, such as "Medicare for
All."
I'd like to propose a strategy to cut the deficit and make the rich pay
a fairer share. Start with Social Security - which had a $65 billion
deficit in 2015. If its solvency is not restored, Social Security
recipients would suffer a 21% cut in benefits in 2029.
A non-partisan group, Voice of the People, has proposed options
to restore its solvency. It framed alternatives to a scientific sample
of the population, with pro and con arguments agreed to by to Democratic
and Republican congressional staffers.
What's encouraging is that three-quarters of a scientific sample of
8,500 people were able to agree on four major solutions that cover
two-thirds of the Social Security deficit:
- Reduce benefits for the richest 26% of beneficiaries - was
supported by 75% of people including 72% of Republicans.
- Raise the full retirement age from 67 to 68 was backed by 8 of
10 Americans.
- Raise the cap on taxable earnings from $117,000 to $235,000 over
a decade - won with 88% support.
- Raise payroll taxes from 6.2% of income to 6.6%, was backed by
76% of Americans.
Admittedly, these are only the opinions of 8,500 people. But what if
they were supported by a million people? Neither the Congress nor
Administration could ignore the results.
An American Town Meeting To Fix Social Security
I proposed a strategy to Voice of the People to harness the
power of the mass media to inform the public on how to fix the Social
Security deficit. We would give individual citizens a way to learn about
the tradeoffs and to "ballot" on the choices to fix the Social Security
deficit.
Specifically, I will, as a member of the press, go to America's news
media to ask for the cooperation of TV networks, TIME, and the
Associated Press, who can reach every newspaper in the country.- to
collaborate in creating An American Town Meeting to Fix Social
Security. What's encouraging is Voice of the People has
accepted my proposal, first made in 2017.
What might it look like?
- TIME could publish a cover story on a Saturday this winter on
the pros and cons of Social Security choices.
- CBS or NBC would air a 90-minute Special on Sunday night on the
same Social Security choices.
- AP would publish a package of stories on the choices that
weekend that any newspaper could publish and localize content with
interviews of local people.
- PBS and CNN would air shows that week with their own documentary
on the options followed by a live citizen debate.
- Citizens could "ballot" on the choices via Facebook, Twitter,
etc.
I ran a project like this in Metro New York some years ago that
included WCBS-TV, WNBC-TV. WABC-TV and 14 smaller stations from New
Haven to Trenton, broadcasting five one-hour TV shows on such issues as
Housing, Poverty and the Environment.
And I organized 20,000 people to participate in small Town Meeting
groups. We also published a paperback book that sold 100,000 copies.
Some 122,000 ballots were mailed in. One result: there was a consensus
that low income workers should be subsidized. Members of Congress
introduced a bill that became the Earned Income Tax Credit.
Why not cut the federal deficit with more affluent people picking up a
larger share of Social Security costs?
Give the American people a voice on saving Social Security!
__________________________
Copyright (c) 2019 Michael J. McManus, a syndicated columnist and past president of Marriage Savers. To read past columns, go to
www.ethicsandreligion.com. Hit
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