We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Friday, April 8, 2011

How to Pay No Taxes

by Jesse Drucker from Bloomberg Businessweek.
For the well-off, this could be the best tax day since the early 1930s: Top tax rates on ordinary income, dividends, estates, and gifts will remain at or near historically low levels for at least the next two years. That's thanks in part to legislation passed in December 2010 by the 111th Congress and signed by President Barack Obama. 
Have you noticed that in all the coverage about the US government shutdown, it is all about cutting back on public spending, not on increasing revenue? There are two basic sides to any budget: income and expenses. So why isn't there any discussion in the media, or Congress, about the income side--income taxes, particularly those not paid or underpaid by the rich? There has been a steady decline in the past 40 years in the rates that the rich and corporations actually pay. Hence, is it any wonder that the Federal and State budgets are out of whack?
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