Senate Dems Ready To Tax The Rich

(The cartoon above is by Jerry Holbert in The Boston Herald.)

Most Americans have been shocked to learn in the past couple of years just how small a tax rate is paid by the richest people in this country. The issue recently received a new impetus with the release of Republican presidential front-runner Mitt Romney's tax return from 2010. Although he made over $20 million for not working at all, Romney paid only a 13.9% tax rate on those millions -- a smaller rate than many in the middle class must pay (even though they had to work hard for their much, much smaller income).

Poll after poll has shown that a clear majority of Americans want to see the rich pay more in taxes. The percentage of those who would like to see this varies from 60% to near 80%, depending on how much more tax is proposed -- and even a small majority of Republicans would like to see the rich pay a little bit more. Finally, it look like the Democrats are starting to wake up and realize that the GOP is in a losing position on the this issue.

In his State-of-the-Union speech, President Obama said the tax laws should be fixed so those who make a million dollars a year or more should be taxed at a minimum rate of 30%. After polls showed that most Americans, Senate Democrats seem to be discovering that they also have a backbone -- and that maybe it's time to use this newly-discovered body part.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) has announced that he will be scheduling a vote on the president's plan to raise taxes on the rich to a minimum of 30%. But he doesn't stop there. Reid says he will be scheduling votes on raising taxes on the rich all thru the spring and summer months in the Senate.

With the present make-up of Congress -- the Republicans controlling the House and usually having enough votes to sustain a filibuster in the Senate -- it is doubtful that any of the Democratic efforts to raise taxes on the rich can get through Congress. After all, the Republicans want to cut taxes for the rich even more -- not raise them by even a penny.

But it's still good politics for the Democrats to continually bring this issue up for a vote. They should make the Republicans vote against it time after time -- and then let the Republicans try to explain those ridiculous votes to the unhappy voters. Considering the minuscule tax rates already being paid by rich individuals and corporations (the ones that pay any taxes at all), I think the Republicans are going to have a hard time explaining those votes.

Personally, I think the Democrats should go even further. I think they should demand that all income, regardless of how it is received, should be taxed at the same rate as income that people had to work hard for (earned income). It has never made any sense that those who gamble on the stock market to make their money should pay a lower rate that Americans who have to work for their income. The very thought of that denigrates the idea of honest labor being the way to get ahead in America.