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
Nov 22, 2010
The Deficit Commission will try to sell its plan by pretending to cut taxes for everyone.
In reality, they propose to lower the tax rate for the wealthy layers by 12%, while lowering taxes for the lower layers of the working class by only 2%.
But it’s worse than that–because other changes would end up raising the taxes we pay:
• Tax credits that many working people count on today (“earned income credit” and “child tax credit”) would be eliminated.
• Mortgage interest deduction from taxes would be eliminated.
• Employer-provided medical benefits would count as income, making us pay taxes on our medical coverage.
PLUS–36 different flat taxes and fees that hit ordinary income the hardest would go up:
• Gasoline taxes would be increased.
• Rural electricity rates increased.
• Fees for government services–parks, passports, etc.–increased every year.
• The Universal Service Fund we pay through our phone bills would increase.
• And because we will work longer, we will pay more Medicare and Social Security taxes.
Formally, the tax rate on our income tax would go down slightly, but with all the changes and the increases in other taxes and fees, overall we will pay more to the government.
The Commission’s plan is not a plan to cut the deficit–it’s a plot to use the deficit as a pretext to give still more money to the wealthy and the corporations.
It’s an outrage!