Tax Cuts for Corporations and the Wealthy; Cut Public Services For The Rest
Jonathan Tasini wrote an interesting piece yesterday at Working Life about taxes. He said: "The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that the government's receipts from corporate taxes have fallen. The Journal ascribes this to the "turmoil rocking financial markets and housing woes slowing the economy", just another way that people like Citibank's Robert Rubin have hurt regular Americans because, after all, someone pays for the growing debt...that would be you and I, the average taxpayer.
"...the rich don't pay the taxes they should...here's something to consider from the folks at the Citizens for Tax Justice:
"The cost of the Bush tax cuts for the years 2001 through 2010 will total around $2.6 trillion. If the Bush tax cuts are all made permanent, as the President has proposed, that will cost another $5 trillion over the 2011-2020 period. This includes the additional interest payments we must pay on the national debt because of the Bush administration’s practice of using debt to pay for its tax cuts.
"These costs should not be written off as some abstract or distant problem. The national debt must be paid off eventually, either in the form of increased taxes or cuts in public services that Americans rely on.
"In fact, the White House has admitted this much by submitting budget proposals that slash public services.
"In fact, the White House has admitted this much by submitting budget proposals that slash public services.
"The cost of the Bush tax cuts going to just the richest one percent in 2008 (about $79.5 billion) is more than the entire budget for the Department of Education this year ($68 billion), almost twice as much as the entire budget for the Department of Homeland Security this year ($42.3 billion) and over ten times as much as the budget for the Environmental Protection Agency ($7.5 billion)."
What the corporations don't pay and the rich don't pay because of tax cuts means more must be paid by hardworking regular American taxpayers who also see their public services slashed. Truly unfair and unjust; but that's the Bush method in action which McCain aims to continue: help the rich and corporations get richer and let the rest of Americans carry the burden as they lose public services.
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