Lower taxes for the rich, for a change
Wednesday, January 8th, 2003We are now faced with the spectacle of the Republicans’ “economic stimulus” package. I don’t doubt it is stimulating to the rich, who, under the Bush plan, will pay no income tax on their stock dividends.
The rationale for this, which is being repeated as fact in the media, is that stock dividends are double taxed: i.e., corporations pay income tax, then stockholders are taxed on the same after-tax corporate profits when dividends are paid.
Working people, of course, are in exactly the same boat. We pay income tax on our wages, then pay sales taxes when we spend our after-tax wages. There are no Republican proposals to curtail sales taxes, of course, nor any other regressive taxes.
