Richard D. Wolff

My suggestion is through taxation. Such as: Reduce the Corporate Income Tax to 25% – this is the only concession we’ll give to Trump and his buddies. Current rate is 39%. The impact would be small because most corporations only pay 17 to 19% and the really big companies, such as General Electric, pay no income tax at all. Don’t forget, it’s corporations that create jobs, not individuals. But think about it – the propaganda value on cutting the corporate tax rate would be priceless. Create a new Millionaires tax bracket – retain the current tax brackets for individuals and tack on one new one for the uber-rich. For every taxable dollar above $2 million, 50 cents of it would go to the general fund of the Federal government. Again, remember, individuals don’t create jobs; corporations do. Keep the Affordable Care Act taxes – the Affordable Care Act effectively taxes the wealthy in order to provide health insurance to 20 million lower-income citizens. It works, let’s keep it going. Implement a small transaction fee for all financial transactions – assess a 0.001% transaction fee for every stock trade, bond sale and derivative exchange. After all it was the Financial Industry that took down our economy in 2008, thus “We the People” should take it back. Change the Capital Gains rates to match those for individuals – Why should we reward people for do nothing while their assets appreciate? Income is income; we all should pay the same rates. Implement a Social Security donut hole – Let’s fix Social Security once and for all. The current program has a cut-off at $118,000. The tax is not levied above this amount. Let’s create a break, retain the current cut-off, but restart it on incomes above $250,000. Once individuals hit this amount, the tax starts up again with no more caps. This simple change would keep the benefits of Social Security going for another 50 to 75 years. Fix every pothole in America – It’s time we got serious about infrastructure projects. Trump talked a good game during the campaign, but he only proposed a penchant in his budget. Let’s start a ten-year infrastructure fund to fill every pothole, fix every road, and repair every bridge in the country. Model it after the ACA — for every dollar of taxable income above $250,000, five cents would go into this fund. Towns, cities, counties and states would partner with the Federal Government to rebuild the nation’s infrastructure. Increase the Estate Tax – Cut the limits on the current Estate Tax in half. People do not pay inheritance tax for estates valued under $5.49 million for individuals and $11 million for couples. Cut them to $2.75 for individuals and $5.5 million for married couples. This is a modest proposal since very few people pay this tax today. “But why bother?” you say. With the House, Senate and the Presidency controlled by Trump and the Republicans, these tax initiatives would never pass. True! But we must clarify our message and stick to our principals. Let’s run full-page ads in all the major newspapers across mid-West, West Virginia and Florida putting our tax proposal next to Trump’s with this simple question: Which one truly supports your economic interests? It’s time we stop enriching those who don’t need it and start rebuilding the middle class. Are you with me?