Tomorrow is the 10th anniversary of the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. And we're going to commemorate these costly handouts ... by taking action to get rid of them.
On June 7, 2001, President George W. Bush began to use Americans as lab rats for another experiment in conservative voodoo economics.
Cutting taxes on the wealthy did not create jobs as conservatives promised. Rich people did help to inflate the housing bubble, leading to the financial crash. And the Bush Administration earned was the "worst track record on record" for jobs, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Bush declared that "the surplus is the people's money," and proceeded to give the surplus away to very few people. Now that we face chronic deficits, it's long past time for millionaires and billionaires to starting giving back.
The Bush tax cuts made our tax brackets more regressive. Rep. Jan Schakowsky's Fairness in Taxation Act makes them more progressive.
It would create new tax brackets for annual income above $1 million, starting at 45% for income between $1 million and $10 million, inching up to 49% for income over $1 billion.
It's plain common sense.
Before we try balancing the budget by cutting Social Security, unemployment insurance, aid to hungry children or health care for the poor, let's start with the obvious: higher taxes on those that can easily afford it.
They tried it their way 10 years ago. It was a colossal failure, and we are all paying the price for it today.
It's time for the rich to pay their fair share, so we all can prosper again.
