Unnecessary Austerity

Obama Leadership Essential to Winning New Revenue

 

Institute for Policy Studies April 13, 2011

 

http://www.ips-dc.org/

 

REPORT: Unnecessary Austerity: Identifies $400 billion

in Revenue from Reversing Tax Cuts to Wealthy and Tax Dodging Corporations

 

http://www.ips-dc.org/reports/unnecessary_austerity_unnecessary_government_shutdown

 

"The President's statement today was a welcome step in

breaking the silence about revenue in the current

budget and deficit debate," said Chuck Collins, co-

author of a new report, Unnecessary Austerity.

"Before we face another round of budget cuts that

undermine the American Dream, U.S. millionaires and

corporations like General Electric should pay their

fair share."

 

"Unnecessary Austerity," a new Institute for Policy

Studies report examines how Congress could raise more

than $4 trillion in revenue over the next decade by

reversing years of tax giveaways to the richest

Americans and largest corporations.

 

"When President Obama was born in 1961, families with

more than a million dollars of annual income paid 48%

of their income in federal income taxes," said Scott

Klinger, report co-author. "This year, they will pay

just 23%. We need the president to stand tall."

 

The report examines massive shifts in the tax code

since 1961. For example, if corporations and households

amassing $1 million or more in income each year paid

taxes at the same rates as they did in 1961, the

Treasury would collect an additional $716 billion a

year - $7 trillion over a decade.

 

The report prescribes eight new potential revenue

sources. Taken together, they would boost revenue by $4

trillion over the next decade. These include:

 

    * Closing overseas tax havens ($90-100 billion)

 

    * Adding new tax brackets for households with more

    than $1 million ($60-80 billion) in annual income

 

    * Instituting a modest financial transaction tax

    ($150 billion)

 

America's increasingly concentrated income and wealth,

coupled with historically low effective tax rates on

the richest households, are fueling the deficit,

according to this new report.

 

For example, if U.S. corporations were taxed at the

same effective rate that they paid in 1961, the

additional tax revenue would total $485 billion.

 

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