A Clark Editorial On Tax Reform...
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Families should keep more of their earnings
By WESLEY CLARK
GUEST COLUMNIST
Wednesday, January 14, 2004
seattlepi.nwsource.com
Working families are the backbone of America. But on George W. Bush's watch, they're being squeezed from all sides.
Property taxes, insurance premiums and college tuition are all way up. The typical family's income has decreased by $1,500. While working families' bank accounts have shrunk, the president has worked to make the richest Americans richer. This year, Bush is giving the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers -- those making more than $1 million a year -- an average tax cut of $127,661.
Meanwhile, in millions of homes across America, hardworking parents are wondering how they'll pay their bills and clothe their kids. At the same time, the fortunate few are enjoying the lowest tax rates since World War I. We need to restore fairness to America's tax system.
That's what my Families First Tax Reform Plan will do. It will make the tax code fairer, simpler, more progressive and more pro-growth -- without increasing the deficit by one dime. Under my proposal, families of four making under $50,000 will not pay one penny in federal income tax, and all families with children earning up to $100,000 will get tax relief. In all, 31 million American families will keep more of what they earn, so they can pay for health care, education, and other pressing needs. That's what I call putting families first.
Too many families are having trouble making ends meet. I know how hard this can be. My father died when I was nearly 4, leaving behind $450 in savings. My mother had to raise me all alone. She got a job as a secretary in a bank and worked hard every day just to provide the basic necessities.
When you work so hard -- in the wealthiest country in the world -- you shouldn't be struggling to get by. That's not right. But that's the reality of Bush's tax system. It's a system stacked against working families and the hardest-pressed Americans.
Family First Tax Reform will make the tax code fairer. It gives all families making less than $100,000 a standard $2,250 tax credit for each child.
The plan will also restore progressivity to the tax code. A generation ago, the top tax bracket was 70 percent. Today, under Bush, it's half that. Family First Tax Reform will make sure that millionaires pay their fair share in taxes and it will reduce the tax burden on working families -- putting about $1,500 back in the pockets of a typical family of four.
Family First Tax Reform is also pro-growth. It will reward work by building on the Earned Income Tax Credit, which will help millions of America's hardest-pressed families to pay for child care, transportation and other work-related expenses.
Under the Bush administration, more than 545,000 children have fallen into poverty. Families First will help hundred of thousands of parents lift their children out of poverty. Most working families with children will pay no income taxes at all.
The plan is fiscally responsible -- it will not increase the federal deficit by one iota. Relief for working and hard-pressed families will be fully paid for by closing the corporate loopholes that currently let companies squirm out of paying their fair share. And by a 5-percentage point rate increase on income of more than $1 million a year, affecting only the top 0.1 percent of taxpayers; 99.9 percent of taxpayers won't pay one dime more in taxes.
My proposal improves and simplifies our tax system. Families First Tax Reform will make the expensive, confusing and time-consuming ordeal of filing taxes into a do-it-yourself exercise that takes only a few minutes. Families will simply fill out an easy-to-use three-line form, listing their income, marital status and number of children. More than half of families won't even need to file a single form.
For years now, Republicans have campaigned under the banner of tax reform and family values. But for them, tax reform is all too often a cover for giving big tax breaks to the richest Americans. I think it's high time that someone stood up for what's right. This is a plan that really values families. That's what I'll do in the White House.
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Former Gen. Wesley Clark is running for the Democratic presidential nomination. |
