Letter to the editor: The Robin Hood agenda — what we could do with a national wealth tax
Politics in this country has reached the point where I would be shocked if any candidate for the U.S. House or Senate showed the courage to support a national wealth tax of 25 percent on all individuals worth $10 million or more. Here’s what we could do with that revenue:
—Eliminate the federal budget deficit and the national debt.
—Pass a Canadian-style national health insurance program to cover all Americans.
—Turn student loans into scholarships.
—Make Social Security fully solvent beyond the current date of 2034.
—Supplement the unequal pay for equal work that women do in this country to bring it up to what men get paid.
—Help working families pay day care expenses for their children and elderly family members.
—Guarantee jobs to all Americans that will pay enough to lift them above the official poverty line and the official “near-poverty” line.
And there would still be money left over.
This is how much wealth that there is in this country. Eighty percent of all of the wealth in the United States was never earned by those who hold it — it was inherited. It grows and grows into tens of millions, hundreds of millions, and into the billions.
No one could possibly ever need that much money. Yet I can’t find one Democrat in either house of Congress who supports a national wealth tax.
Someone should write a book about the national Democrats in the Congress and call it “Profiles In Cowardice.”
They’re supposed to care about helping all of the people more than they care about raising millions of dollars so they can win re-election.
Sincerely,
Stewart B. Epstein
Rochester, New York
Articles related to “Letter to the editor: The Robin Hood agenda — what we could do with a national wealth tax”
How your IRA or 401(k) can become a tax-free gift for your loved ones
The viewpoints expressed above are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The Independent.
How to submit an article, guest opinion piece, or letter to the editor to The Independent
Do you have something to say? Want your voice to be heard by thousands of readers? Send The Independent your letter to the editor or guest opinion piece. All submissions will be considered for publication by our editorial staff. If your letter or editorial is accepted, it will run on suindependent.com, and we’ll promote it through all of our social media channels. We may even decide to include it in our monthly print edition. Just follow our simple submission guidelines and make your voice heard:
—Submissions should be between 300 and 1,500 words.
—Submissions must be sent to editor@infowest.com as a .doc, .docx, .txt, or .rtf file.
—The subject line of the email containing your submission should read “Letter to the editor.”
—Attach your name to both the email and the document file (we don’t run anonymous letters).
—If you have a photo or image you’d like us to use and it’s in .jpg format, at least 1200 X 754 pixels large, and your intellectual property (you own the copyright), feel free to attach it as well, though we reserve the right to choose a different image.
—If you are on Twitter and would like a shout-out when your piece or letter is published, include that in your correspondence and we’ll give you a mention at the time of publication.
