Forum Post: Taxing the Rich, Saving Everybody Else - Will Congress Act?
Posted 13 years ago on Nov. 4, 2011, 10 a.m. EST by JRDC
(0)
from Washington, DC
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
As many of you are aware, the Debt Supercommittee, 12 senators and representatives, equally split between Democrats and Republicans, will recommend a budget to Congress on a straight up vote (as in no discussion before a vote). While both Democrats and Republicans are slashing expenditures, the Republicans have dug in their heels and are refusing to raise taxes for the rich and the wealthy.
Why?
One word. Grover.
As in Grover Norquist, the head of Americans for Tax Reform, a conservative anti-tax group on K Street, in Washington DC. All Republicans in Congress have signed a no taxes pledge to Norquist and have stuck to this pledge through thick and thin.
So what can be done about this?
Well, for one thing, we need to push back. Norquist is largely funded by corporations. Check opensecrets.org for the facts. OWS must counterbalance this pressure on Republicans.
So which Republicans exactly?
Start with the ones on the Supercommittee. Senator Pat Toomey (R-PA) for one. Pennsylvania usually elects Democrats to the Senate. Toomey is the exception. He needs to hear from you - NOW!
Then there's Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich). He only hears from Norquist and his gang. Tell him to raise taxes for the rich - DO IT TODAY!
Just as important, tell the Democrats to start acting like Democrats. Kerry, Murray, Clyburn, Baucus, Becerra, Van Hollen. TELL THESE REPRESENTATIVES TO GET A PAIR AND STAND UP FOR AMERICANS AND NOT JUST THE CORPORATIONS THAT FUND THEM!
The odds are slim you can do it. A study released on http://globalinvestmentwatch.com/the-debt-supercommittee-will-it-raise-taxes-on-corporations-and-the-wealthy/ shows that the probability for success here is low and we are running out of time. Call your representatives. Occupy K Street. Workers of Michigan - most of you don't have jobs - pay a visit to Rep. Upton and tell him what you think.
DO IT NOW.
Mr. Speaker is in favor of Tax Code Reform and closing Loopholes and Special Interest carve-outs. "It's the right thing to do". Removing other tax breaks instead of raising taxes is the way to go for R support. Proposal Cut In-Half Tax Breaks : Capital Gains, Municipal Bond Income, Foreign Income, Dividends, Interest, Itemized Deductions, FICA.
The super committee is working on the next slash and burn budget. Raising taxes is necessary to protecting the programs we want and need while moving us toward reduced debt. Please copy and paste the information below into a letter to your elected officials right away.
Members of the super committee and their postal addresses in Washington...the internet contact system requires you to use the zip code of your address to contact via the internet, and limits you to contacting the officials from your own voting district, so postal
Senators:
Max Baucus
511 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
John Kerry
218 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Patty Murray
173 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Rob Portman
338 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Jon Kyl
730 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Patrick Toomey
502 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
House Representatives:
Dave Camp
341 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Fred Upton
2183 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
Jeb Hensarling
129 Cannon House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Chris Van Hollen
1707 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, DC 20515
Xavier Becerra
1226 Longworth House Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20515
James Clyburn
2135 Rayburn House Office Building Washington, DC 20515
Via the internet to find or contact your own elected officials you will need your zip + four...
http://www.house.gov/representatives/find/
The site for the senate will narrow it to your state...
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Letter:
Our nation is in desperate need of decisions that are based in proven methods of keeping the government solvent. This is not a time to put political goals and ideology ahead of the good of the nation or her people. It is incumbent upon you to proceed with conscience rather than aiming for an ideological win and act in accordance with the following facts about taxation mitigating your voting choice.
The following is from a report "Rebuilding America's Defenses: Strategy, Forces and Resources for a New Century", created by a right wing organization called "New American Citizen" under the "Project for the New American Century" written prior to the end of the Clinton administration. It is available online. The membership includes Cheney, Rumsfeld, and Jeb Bush, as well as people representing military and corporate interests, and more than 30 of the contributors to the report were given positions in the Bush administration.
[(excerpt from Introduction, pg iii, para 1) For the first time since the 1960s the federal government is running a surplus. For most of the 1990s, Congress and the White House gave balancing the budget a higher priority than funding national security. In fact, to a significant degree, the budget was balanced by a combination of increased tax revenues and cuts in defense spending.]
The report further states that some defense spending was actually hidden within other parts of the budget by the Republican led Congress of 1994, with a net result that defense budgeting stayed flat, rather than decreasing (pg 69, Trends in Defense Spending, para 3).
In summary, the authors and publishers of the report are on the ideological right. The report clearly states that by the end of the Clinton years there was not only a balanced budget, but a budget surplus. The cited reason for these facts were the taxes put in place under Clinton coupled with a fixed level in defense spending.
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