Jill Stein, Green Party presidential nominee has unveiled a progressive tax plan for corporations and wealthy Americans. Stein’s platform says that “State and federal taxes must be progressive.” A progressive taxation plan taxes high income earners at a higher rate than lower wage earners.
The Green Party platform states: “We can afford to cut taxes for most people if we make corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share. Then we can cut them even more when we halt our nation’s wasteful spending on wars, weaponry and militarism.”
In addition to cutting taxes for low income workers, Stein’s plan call for accelerating taxation scheme, which shifts the tax burden from the individual to corporations. Her tax on the wealthy would tax unearned income at the same rate as earned income. She favors a Wall Street speculation tax and an end to corporate tax giveaways.
According to Stein, the current tax system penalizes small business. Part of her economic revitalization plan includes a strong small business sector. Stein said her “tax policy would encourage small and socially responsible business.”
Under her administration, the federal government would no longer “bailout Wall Street, the big banks, and automobile manufacturers.” It will end subsidies for agribusinesses and export-import bank loan guarantees.
Also, her plan will eliminate tax deductions for advertising and business entertainment, offshore tax havens and would close the loophole for carried interest from private equity and hedge fund managers.
While most of her corporate tax plan will reach into the pockets of big businesses, her proposal to eliminate a tax deduction for advertising and business entertainment would hit small businesses hard and make it harder for them to compete with larger companies engaged in a similar business.
However, the linchpin of Stein’s tax on the wealthy includes:
- a financial transaction tax on trades of stocks, bonds, currency, derivatives, and other financial instruments;
- Block financial transactions with tax havens, to stop tax evasion;
- Decrease the $1 million home value cap on the mortgage interest tax deduction for federal income taxes, to reduce the tax subsidy provided to those living in the most expensive homes;
- Restore the estate tax;
- Apply the Federal Insurance Contributions Act (Social Security and Medicare) taxes to investment income and to all levels of income, not merely the first $106,800 earned; and
- Enact a wealth tax of 0.5% per year on an individual’s assets over $5 million.
The Stein tax plan is far more progressive that anything that has been proposed to date by either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. Stein’s plan would bring in more income from the millionaire and billionaire class and would shift some of the burden of paying for government services away from the shoulders of lower wage earners and fixed-income recipients.
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.