[Vision2020] Top Earners Ask to Pay More

[Tom Hansen]

Courtesy of today's (July 30, 2009) Spokesman Review.

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Top earners ask to pay more
Rich petitioners call for end of Bush-era tax cuts

Tom Petruno / Los Angeles Times  Upper-income earners who actually want to
pay higher taxes have launched a public campaign calling for an immediate
rollback of the tax cuts enacted under President George W. Bush.

The group, which calls itself Wealth for the Common Good, believes that
people who have taxable income of more than $235,000 a year should support
restoring their top federal income tax rate to 39.6 percent from 35
percent – and now, not in 2011, when the higher rate is scheduled to
return anyway.

>From their Web site:

“Our country is facing the worst economic challenge since the Great
Depression and an urgent need to make a long overdue investment in
bringing jobs and stability back to our communities. This investment
should be paid for, in part, by repealing the Bush-era tax cuts our
country cannot afford.

“Those of us with taxable incomes over $235,000 benefited from the upside
of the economy during the last decade and profited for eight years from a
2001 tax cut. Now is the time to give back.

“We would see a minimal tax increase – from 35 (percent) to 39.6
(percent), a rate still far lower than the one under President (Ronald)
Reagan – but the increased revenue would raise an estimated $43 billion
per year.”

The group’s founders include Chuck Collins, who inherited some of the
Oscar Mayer meat fortune and who has long been involved in agitating on
income-inequality issues. He may be best known for co-writing the 2003
book “Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated
Fortunes” with Bill Gates Sr. The book made the case for retaining the
federal estate tax.

Wealth for the Common Good on Tuesday sent its request, including a
petition with more than 1,000 signatures, to President Barack Obama and to
House and Senate leaders.

Getting 1,000 Americans to sign a letter demanding higher tax rates on the
well-heeled isn’t exactly a stunning feat. Wealth for the Common Good says
200 of the signatories actually earn more than $235,000, although it
concedes it can’t independently verify that.

“We trust them, and we trust that they don’t have a lot of incentive to
misrepresent their income level,” a spokeswoman said.

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The "Wealth for the Common Good" website

http://wealthforcommongood.org/

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Tea, anybody?

Seeya round town, Moscow.

Tom Hansen
Moscow, Idaho

"The Pessimist complains about the wind, the Optimist expects it to change
and the Realist adjusts his sails."

- Unknown