It's Not a Spending Problem - It's a Revenue Problem - Monday, April 18, 2011

It's Not a Spending Problem -
It's a Revenue Problem

Corporate-backed politicians at every level of government are trying to convince us that we’ve got a spending problem as they look to cut and balance budgets on the backs of America’s middle and working class. But, they’re failing to talk about the real problem: the amount of revenue our government is – or rather, isn’t – taking in.

Here are a few facts to consider:

From the 1940s to the 1980s, the tax rate for the richest Americans – the millionaires of the time – was 70 percent or higher. Now it is nearly half that – 35 percent.

Two-thirds of companies doing business in the United States avoid paying any income tax to the federal government despite corporate sales totaling $2.5 trillion.
General Electric, for example, netted over $10 billion in profits in 2009, but paid the U.S. government $0 in income taxes.
Each year, the United States loses an estimated $100 billion in tax revenues due to offshore tax abuses.
In the late 1970s, capital gains (profits made from selling property or investments) were taxed at 35 percent or higher. Now they are taxed at just 15 percent.

All these tax breaks, tax cuts and tax loopholes have a heavy cost on our economy. As millions struggle to get by, corporate profits are up and CEO pay jumped 27 percent in 2010. They can pay their fair share, just like workers already are!

Watch for the next InfoAlert in this series in two weeks.

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It's Not a Spending Problem - It's a Revenue Problem - Monday, April 18, 2011