Practically speaking, if you have had some success in life it is unlikely that you'd willingly deny your children money in favor of handing it over to the government. Funding public schools and roads is all well and good, but your hard earned cash could buy your children a ...read more
Want evidence that the corporate capitalist system is rigged to benefit the powerful and wealthy? Check out the accounting tricks Starbucks employed in the UK to avoid paying tax despite raking in billions of pounds. From the Independent: Starbucks has exploited accounting tricks ...read more
By Ben Cohen: During the first Presidential debate of the 2012 election, Mitt Romney told President Obama in plain English, "I don’t have a five trillion dollar tax cut. I don’t have a tax cut of the scale that you’re talking about.” Romney was responding to Obama's accusation ...read more
Matt Taibbi has a good point when it comes to attacking Romney for apparently not paying any taxes (a fact yet to be proved): What they [the Democrats] should be doing instead is hammering Romney on the missing returns, yes, but focusing even more on the returns he did release. ...read more
Bucking the trend of European economic austerity dogma, France is ramming through a host of measures to get their economy on track that consist mostly of increasing taxes on the rich - a wildly popular prospect with the majority of French people. Some of the measures are aimed ...read more
Harry Reid's accusation that Mitt Romney paid no federal taxes in 10 years took a new twist as the Senate Majority leader took the issue to the Senate floor. From the LA Times: Reid’s allegations, which he has refused to substantiate, are taking the issue to a new level. The ...read more
James Kwak provides an enlightening analysis of the GOP argument that the individual mandate is an oppressive tax on the middle class. His conclusion: In short: Very few people are even theoretically subject to the tax, and most of them are made much better off by the law, since ...read more
By Ben Cohen: I've always subscribed to theory that Republicans believe in slashing taxes for the wealthy because the party is funded by corporations and rich people who would massively benefit from it. The idea that tax cuts for the 1% gives some tangible benefit to the ...read more
California Gov. Jerry Brown called on state lawmakers to embrace austere cuts and urged voters to approve tax hikes in outlining a revised budget Monday. Brown proposed $8.3 billion in cuts across education, health care and welfare programs in laying out a plan to address the ...read more
By Ben Cohen: I was interviewed on the RT Network last Thursday on wealth inequality in the US and the shifting perception about the American dream. You can check it out below: I think the change in the public's attitude towards social mobility could really spark tangible ...read more
Finally, a Western country has taken the initiative in actually making banks pay for the colossal damage they have done. From the BBC: French President Nicolas Sarkozy has announced plans to introduce a tax on financial transactions. The 0.1% levy will be introduced in August ...read more
The Independent uncovers Britain's stealth tax on its poorest residents: Tax cuts for low and middle-income families in April will be dwarfed by hidden reductions in tax credits, according to a study for The Independent. The analysis found that the £1bn of tax cuts in April ...read more
A New York Times poll poll finds the following: * A slim plurality is very or somewhat confident that the American Jobs Act will improve the economy and create jobs, 48-47. * A solid majority, 56-30, favors significantly cutting payroll taxes for working Americans. * A majority, ...read more
Bob Cesca on Republicans hell bent on ridiculing the Federal government despite taking money when it suits them: They suffer from outrageously selective amnesia by ignoring the unparalleled bloodshed of the Civil War and suggest that states could potentially secede from the ...read more
The big lie in modern politics is that tax cuts for the rich creates jobs. This lie has been repeated over and over again for the past 30 years and has led to one of the most unequal societies in history. Republicans (and many Democrats) cynically describe tax cutting legislation ...read more
I'll get the conservative argument out of the way: "Class warfare!" Blah, blah, blah. Ok, now the actuality. The income of the 400 wealthiest Americans swelled in 2006, soaring nearly 23 percent from the previous year, to an average of $263 million, according to data released ...read more
