the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist
“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx
Apr 20, 2009
April 15th has come and gone–painfully for many of us. But for the richest people, Tax Day is just another day like any other.
Figures just released by the Congressional Budget Office show what we have all known: For decades, the rich have been getting richer at the expense of the rest of us. The average income of the top one% of taxpayers more than doubled (after compensating for inflation) during the 20 years from 1986 to 2006. At the same time, the average federal income tax rate paid by this top one% was cut by about one third.
The gap between the income and taxes of the top one% is even bigger if all the other taxes we pay are taken into account: Social Security tax increases, state and local sales taxes, real estate taxes, water and sewer fees, car registration fees, fines–all of which weigh much more heavily on the unemployed and working class layers of the population.
Under both Democrats and Republicans the tax laws certainly have been used to redistribute wealth–taking from the working population to give to the wealthy.