A Tax Structure That is “For the People, by the People.”

A Tax Structure That is “For the People, by the People”

In middle school and high school civics classes, we learned about government “for the people, by the people.” But I’m not convinced that this founding principle is still alive and well. As Congress approaches the sequestration deadline, the country will be watching to see if we can succeed in implementing a fair and balanced approach to spending cuts that doesn’t hurt the middle class, but seeks to strengthen our economy through fair deficit reduction.

Programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and education funding are vital to a thriving middle class. By contributing to healthcare and other social programs, we ensure that working families have access to the American Dream.

The last thing we can do right now, as families across the country rebound from the recession, is reduce the deficit on the backs of the middle class by cutting vital social programs in order to benefit the wealthy. Not only would this approach have devastating consequences for American families, but it would be ruinous for the idea that our government represents all Americans—and not just the wealthiest Americans.

We need to do more to make sure the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair share of taxes. A fair budget agreement needs to raise more revenue from those who can afford it most, rather than cut programs for those who can afford it least.

Big corporations have used their lobbyists and campaign contributions to rig the tax system in their favor. Dozens of big corporations, including General Electric, Verizon and Boeing, paid no federal income taxes in the last four years. And by using tax loopholes, Apple, Google, and Microsoft avoided U.S. taxes on $80 billion in foreign profits in three years. I may not be a historian or a constitutional scholar, but I haven’t been able to find a corporate carve-out in any of our founding documents.

Tax reform must be part of these negotiations so that all Americans pay their fair share. These reforms need to close loopholes and end special-interest tax breaks for big oil and corporate jets. It is time the biggest corporations and the wealthiest Americans live by the same rules as the rest of us and do their share to reduce the deficit. 

Closing loopholes and ending tax breaks for the richest two percent of Americans and for big corporations can raise over $1 trillion over 10 years. By limiting tax deductions for these wealthiest few, we could raise more than $400 billion—all while making the tax system more fair and a whole lot simpler; by closing loopholes that allow corporations to ship U.S. jobs and profits overseas to avoid paying U.S. taxes, we could reclaim $100 billion a year in lost revenue; and by eliminating the loopholes and tax breaks that allow the very wealthy to pay a lower tax rate than middle-class taxpayers, we could raise hundreds of billions of dollars.

One trillion dollars goes a long way towards putting our country on stable financial footing—and the proposed tax reforms ensure that we’re not closing the deficit on the backs of working families.

In America, a middle class librarian ought to get the same considerations as a millionaire hedge fund manager or a multi-billion dollar corporation. We can’t punish working families by cutting social programs while protecting tax breaks for the wealthiest among us. We can’t cut our way into prosperity. Instead, we need to look for revenues and ensure that all Americans pay their fair share.

Lonnie Scott is the Michigan State Director of Know Your Care – Tax, a national non-profit that seeks to educate the public about the harmful cuts contained within the sequester.