Photo Credits: (c) 2016
Harold Michael Harvey
During election season, a political slogan is frequently heard:”Tax cuts for the wealthy!”It usually is met with disdain, as one opponent accuses the other of favoring tax breaks for the rich.
This political season, Green Party presidential candidate Jill Stein, has a tax plan that changes that refrain to “tax cuts for the workers!”
Stein’s tax plan is predicated on the belief that “Political democracy remains a distant promise without economic democracy. A principal instrument for achieving economic democracy is our tax system. Taxes are the means whereby we fund our public services. They can also help create equity, justice, health and sustainability,” the Green Party’s platform explains.
This week Jill Stein released her tax plan. In it she calls for fair taxation highlighted by tax cuts for workers. The announcement was made via a plank in the Green Party Platform that was approved at the Green Party’s recently concluded national convention in Houston, Texas.
Under the Stein Tax Plan, individuals earning less than $25,000 per year will not have to pay any tax on their earnings. Also, families making less than $50,000 annually will be exempted from federal income taxes. Further, the Green Party tax plank seeks to encourage state governments to exempt individuals and couples in these two wage categories.
The Stein tax initiative addresses the needs of the lowest earners in the American economy. Low wage earners are the forgotten Americans. Stein’s base of supporters tend to come from the lower income brackets, whether students, part-time workers or seniors on fixed incomes. Her tax plan promises relief for this segment of the American economy.
For instance, under Stein’s proposal an individual making less than $25,000, who under current rules, is in a 28 percent tax bracket, will save about $7,000 in taxes. For a single mom, this could be the funds necessary to afford day care expenses, without having to work a second job. Thus, more quality time at home to raise her child.
Republican Candidate Donald Trump has a similar zero tax proposal to Stein’s for income earners between $50,000-$100,000. While the Democrat, Hillary Clinton, has a 10 percent tax rate for the lower income earners. Ten percent is 18 points better than a 28 percent tax rate, which the average low income taxpayers can expect to pay, but certainly not as good as zero taxes.
Tax cuts for the workers, a refreshingly novel idea, is often overlooked by politicians in their quest to serve their corporate donors. It could become the law of the land if Jill Stein is elected President in November.
Harold Michael Harvey is an American novelist and essayist, the author of Paper puzzle and Justice in the Round. He can be contacted at haroldmichaelharvey.com.