When you add up the numbers from reporting by the New York Times and the recently released House Ways and Means Committee Report on Trump’s taxes, Donald Trump paid total federal income taxes of about $1.8 million between 1996 and 2020, a 25-year period. He paid another $70 million or so between 2005 and 2007, but had all of that refunded to him when he … Continue reading Who’s Taxed More: Trump or a Cardiologist?
Regressivity, defined as the opposition to progress or returning to a former, less advanced state, is not a description to which policymakers should aspire. Yet, overall, state and local tax policy is regressive, in many cases obscenely so. According to the most recent report from the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, the state and local tax burden, as a percentage of income, of those … Continue reading State Tax Policy: The Growing and Unsustainable Divergence
Is centi-billionaire Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos now writing the paper’s editorials himself? Of course not. But the Post editorial board’s recent rant, Meta’s stock plunge shows the right – and wrong – way to tax wealth, could make the objective reader wonder otherwise. It’s not that the Post’s arguments against current proposals to tax the rich so obviously would favor Bezos. Editorial board members shouldn’t abstain from opining on an issue … Continue reading Why Do Billionaires So Love Owning Newspapers?
In the byline of his recent Forbes op-ed, Michigan’s Romney Was Brainwashed – By The Income Tax, writer Brian Domitrovic identifies himself as a “scholar.” Michigan, Domitrovic explains, supposedly did itself in by enacting a state income tax 55 years ago and that its then governor, George Romney, was brainwashed when he agreed to sign it into law. But it seems Domitrovic is the one … Continue reading Brainwashed by Arthur Laffer
by Bob Lord and Emily McCloskey This piece was first published on Inequality.org. This past May, The Wall Street Journal released a bombshell report on trends in American CEO pay. According to their analysis, in 2021, median pay for CEOs at American S&P 500 companies rose to a record-setting $14.7 million, with the 25 highest grossing CEOs earning $35 million and the top 9 earning … Continue reading Corporate America is Ok with Paying Taxes… So Long As Those Taxes Allow Them To Pay Executives Mega-Millions
If you didn’t already know the federal tax law is a loophole-ridden mess that lets the ultra-rich pay a fraction of what they should, you could figure it out from this recent ProPublica headline: The Great Inheritors: How Three Families Shielded Their Fortunes From Taxes for Generations. Or, better yet, this one: How Susquehanna’s Jeff Yass Avoided $1 Billion in Taxes. Of course, if you’re … Continue reading Time To End the Capital Gains Rate Giveaway
In its original form, the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA) and its offshoots, including individual retirement accounts (IRAs), was an extraordinary piece of legislation. It created vehicles for workers not covered by pensions to save for retirement on a tax-advantaged basis. They could establish an IRA simply by filling a form. Unfortunately, over the years, ERISA’s were hijacked by Wall Street. What … Continue reading Secure Act 2.0: Further Bastardization of Good Legislation to Benefit the Rich
Some of you might remember that, prior to the Trump tax cuts for the rich in 2017, you were able to claim a personal exemption on your taxes that eliminated income tax on the first $4,050 in income ($8,100 for couples). It was a big help to many of us, but Trump did away with the personal exemption for working Americans as part of his … Continue reading Billionaire Income Tax Could Eliminate Tax on First $17,500 of Income for All Americans ($35,000 for Married Couples)