You’re
Being Played for a Sucker
Though few would be surprised by the statement that the rich have gotten richer during
the past two decades, many of you would be amazed to know that the richest 1.5% of the
population have gotten nearly all income growth. In 1997, the top one-third of one
percent had 67% of the nation’s growth in personal income. By contrast, the 50%
with a 1997 AGI (adjusted gross income) between $20,000 and $100,000 had no gain to
show for 20 years hard work.
Bogus Tax Cuts Favor the Wealthiest
-- The income share of
the top one-third of one percent rose from less than 4% in 1976 to more than 12% in 1997.
Popular wisdom would have us believe that such gains are merely the product of
"uncontrollable market forces." Market forces are not the problem.
Rather, a privileged few have finagled massive tax cuts for themselves. While the
richest in the top 1% averaged a 42% tax cut, the majority of Americans
received only 3% or less in tax relief that same year. In 1997, this totaled over 91
billion dollars for the top group of 144,000 multimillionaires -- about $637,000
for each of them, over what they would have paid under the 1976 rates. 1997 is the
most recent year for which the government has provided complete statistics. As pointed out
in the new book, A Broken Covenant -- The Rape of the American Middle Class, the
top one-eighth of one percent was already getting nearly 1/3 of their income from capital
gains protected investments like the stock market. We can be certain that the bull market
of the past few years has provided the superrich with even greater tax savings.
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. Most of Us Left Out -- the 91 billion dollars worth of tax cuts bestowed upon this privileged one
eighth of one percent was more than 12% of the 731 billion income tax dollars collected in
1997. By contrast the 115 million taxpayers who had an AGI income in 1997 of
$100,000 or less, got less than 17 billion dollars. For this to be the results of
twenty years of Congressional tax cutting speaks to an unfair -- if not corrupt --
legislative system. It Could Be Different -- If that 91 billion dollars worth of tax cuts hadn’t been given to the
richest few, the taxes of the other 94% of us could be cut 4 to 5 times as much as they
were. The current budget surplus will give Congress more opportunities to cut taxes. Given
their track record over the past twenty years, which group of taxpayers do you think is
going to haul away this windfall? |
We Deserve Better -- Cutting taxes is a wonderful idea. But why funnel the
benefits to the richest at the expense of the majority of hardworking American families.
Why are we allowing a band of con artists masquerading as fiscally responsible legislators
to keep setting the agenda? Don’t let Congress keep
saying one thing and doing another.
On a related front, twenty years of these
unprecedented tax cuts have allowed the richest one percent to double their share of
wealth, to over 40% of all personal wealth in America -- nearly twice the percentage
held by the richest 1% in other democratic nations throughout the world. This
concentration of wealth into such a few hands has put our middle class, and in turn, our
society, in danger. Now Congress wants to eliminate the only vehicle we have to redress
this unreasonable concentration of wealth — the estate tax law. This one tax cut for
the mega-rich could put our nation out of business.
Please help get this information out to other concerned citizens. Don’t
count on the politicians. Most are in the pocket of the special interests. Don’t
count on the media. They barely even acknowledge the problem. It’s up to you!
There is an Acrobat Reader© file named money.pdf which you may
download below. It contains eight pages. The first page repeats much of what was written
here. The meat of the file is on pages 2 through 7. Pages 5-7 contain three income
tax summaries: 1976 (in current 1976 dollars), 1997 (in current 1997 dollars), and 1997
(in constant 1976 dollars). Page 2 compares the data between those two years.
Please distribute copies of the 'Money' file freely to your friends and associates.
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Our book, A Broken Covenant -- The Rape of the American Middle Class, documents the income trends over the past two decades, examines
the tax cuts which have created this unfair advantage for the mega-rich, and explores the
ramifications of these policies. The book also
gives you the tools to do something about
the situation now, before it’s too late. Click
the button marked 'Chapter 1' below to read the first chapter. |
Download the Money file here. Once
downloaded, the file will probably open automatically on your machine. If not, open your
Adobe© Acrobat Reader© program and selected the file named money.pdf. You can obtain a
free copy of the Acrobat Reader© from the Adobe© website, www.adobe.com.