...as a percent of their income.
Capital gains are taxed lower than regular wages and not taxed at all for
Social Security & Medicare...and a greater percentage of discretionary
spending by the poor is taxed, as well as their income for food, shelter, and
energy.
In 1921 "realized capital gains" used to be taxed the very same as regular income and wages,
when the top marginal income tax rate was once 73%.
Then the Republican Secretary of the Treasury (and banker) Andrew Mellon
argued that significant tax reduction [for the rich] was necessary in order to
"spur economic expansion and restore prosperity" (just like the
Republicans had argued a decade ago with George W. Bush, and are again saying in
2012 after the rich "job creators" already had
historically low tax rates that helped spur the Great Recession.
In 1976 the capital gains tax rate was as high as 39.9%. In 1987 the capital
gains tax rate went down to 28%
President Ronald Reagan ended the oil windfall profits tax and in 1981 he
reduced the maximum capital gains rate to only 20%—its lowest level since
President Herbert Hoover's administration (then America had the Roaring
Twenties, just before the Great Depression).
Ronald Reagan's tax cut mostly benefited the very wealthy and in 1986 President
Reagan set tax rates on capital gains to the same level as the rates on ordinary
income, like salaries and wages, with both topping out at 28 percent.
President Clinton kept the top capital gains tax rate at 28% until 1997, when he
agreed to lower that tax rate to 20%. He later admitted on national TV in 2012
that he now regrets lowering the capital gains tax rate.
In 2003 President Bush lowered the capital gains tax rate even further, to 15%
(where it now stands today) while starting two un-funded wars without raises
taxes - the first time ever in U.S. history). (Historical Capital gains
tax rates)
In 2012 President Obama suggested the "Warren Rule", which would raise
the top tax rate to 30% for those earning over $1 million a year, which is STILL
LOWER than the current top marginal rate of 35% for regular income and
wages.
Starting next year, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would prefer that capital gains
should not be taxed at all! Last year Mitt Romney earned $20 million in
capital gains (not including all his unreported foreign investments); and
Paul Ryan earned $50,000 in capital gains (and paid a
penalty for dodging taxes).
For 2011 Paul Ryan paid a tax rate of 20% on his gross income, while Mitt
Romney's estimated 2011 tax rate is only 15% (It was only 13.9% in 2010).
By comparison, middle-class wage earners (such as union workers in the public
and private sectors) who earn $50,000 a year have a 25% tax rate. Meanwhile, the
Social
Security Administration reports that 50% of ALL Americans now only earn less
than $26,500 a year.
Of the $5 trillion in U.S. wages for FY2010, $1 trillion in personal incomes
for the top 1% was NOT TAXED AT ALL for Social Security and Medicare, and most
of their earnings were taxed at only 15% for capital gains.
Let's put this in true perspective: As reported by the business channel CNBC,
according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (listed further below) the
top 15 highest paid jobs (on average) doesn't even rank in the top marginal
income tax bracket of 35% -- and 97% of "real" small business owners
pay themselves a salary of LESS than $250,000 a year.
Most people in the very top marginal income bracket are people like movie stars
and professional athletes -- and the CEOs of large corporations, big banks, and
hedge fund mangers, those whose principle income is from capital gains,
especially the richest of the rich, the billionaires on the Fortune 400 list.
The Top 15 Highest Paid Jobs (not including capital
gains, just regular wages)
|
Two earlier Congressional Budget Office studies in 2006 and 2002
showed that capital gains revenues fluctuate wildly without regard to the tax
rate or who is president,
The CBO concluded in the 2006 study that about half of the 2004 surge in capital
gains realizations remained unexplained. And the CBO concluded in the 2002 study
that "the relationship of realizations and receipts to gains tax rates is
neither predictable or
obvious."
In other words, no matter what the tax rate is on capital gains, people are
still going to do whatever they can to make money, and no matter what the tax
rate is, it doesn't have an affect on GNP. The middle-class thrived and the rich
got rich in the 1950's when taxes were once very high on individuals and
corporations.
So we should tax capital gains as REGULAR WAGES, close the deficit gap, and stop
the Republican strategy of "STARVE THE BEAST".
We should also remove the $110,000 CAP on wages for Social Security taxes and
tax capital gains as "regular wages" and tax them for Social Security
and Medicare like we do for "regular wages".
Mitt Romney was "a pioneer of outsourcing" when President Obama was
still in school. Romney either laid off people and rehired them back at half
their previous wages, or sent the better paying jobs to places like China.
Now Romney is blaming Obama for all the low-paying jobs at Staples and
Dominos pizza, or those low-paying jobs provided by our 2nd and 3rd
largest employers (Wal-Mart and McDonalds), corporations that
usually provide part-time jobs averaging $8 an hour and offer no healthcare
benefits or pension plans.
The Republicans want to starve government revenues by further reducing taxes on
the top 1% and forcing cuts in programs like Social Security and Medicare...and
keep capital gains from ever being taxed for Social Security and Medicare.
Tell me, just exactly when in U.S. history did America's super-rich ever make their "shared sacrifice"? They paid lower tax rates, dodged the taxes they did owe, and the dodged the military draft that protected their financial assets.
* For more details, GOOGLE:
- Bud Meyers SWAG investments
- Bud Meyers tax evasion
- Bud Meyers corporate taxes
- Bud Meyers capital gains
- Bud Meyers Mitt Romney
- Bud Meyers taxes
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