Socialism For The Rich And Capitalism For The Rest

America’s richest 10 percent, who own more than 80 percent of U.S. stocks, have seen their wealth more than triple in 30 years, while the bottom 50 percent, relying on their day jobs in real markets to survive, had zero gains. In addition, making matters even worse, the top 700 wealthiest Americans earned more than the bottom 50% of Americans.  This phenomenon was made possible by the socialistic tax policies given the rich and the capitalistic tax policies that serve to inhibit growth for the bottom half of America.  Of course, Republicans will continue to spread the myth that Democratic economic policies are socialistic while denying government gives any special favors to the wealthy. Republicans will continue to insist that taxing income from capital gains and dividends is necessary to create economic growth but cannot cite a single example to prove this assertion.  Republicans will insist that government programs like food stamps, unemployment insurance, government subsidized health care, or Social Security survivor and retirement programs are examples of socialism while denying that claiming that tax laws that allow pass-through businesses to deduct 20% of gross income before taxes is necessary to create jobs, again without a single example to prove this claim. “Socialism for the rich and capitalism for the rest is well documented in over 60,000 pages of the U.S. Federal Income Tax Code which allows the wealthy to escape paying the legislated personal income tax rates on over 70% of their income while requiring the bottom 50% to calculate federal income tax on 100% of their wage income.  Income inequality is the result of the government tax gifts of deductions, exemptions, and exclusions given to the wealthy. The very best example of government socialism can be readily seen in how the payroll tax is administered and levied on 100% of wage income up to a cap and levied on 0% of wage income over the cap.  Making matters even worse, the payroll tax on income from dividends and capital gains is also 0% and the personal income tax rate on capital gains approximates ½ of the tax rates of income from salaries and wages.  All the while, Republicans keep promoting the myths that denying tax favors as socialistic and claiming phony economic promise to continue to foist these policies on the American economy.  Democrats are equally rfesponsible because of their failure to disprove the validity of these myths and, in fact, for actually supporting many of the “rich man’s socialism”.  Time after time, economic evidence proves that virtually every dollar in government benefit immediately flows to the rich, the owners of businesses where the poor spend their income on survival such as Walmart.  It is no wonder the owners of Walmart are among the wealthiest families in the country.  The cash registers at the typical Walmart constantly rank among the biggest recipients of food stamps in the country.  The wealthy in any country will always have an economic advantage.  But that support of that advantage on the part of government tax policies which amount to socialism for the rich needs to end.  Tax policy for those at the top needs to mirror tax policies of those at the bottom where every dollar of earned income is subject to personal income tax rates.  It is time to eliminate 60,000 pages of tax code that permit way to avoid tax liability on some, if not all (tax–free municipal bond interest and other legal tax shelters) income of the wealthy.  All income needs to be taxed at the legislated tax rates without exemptions, exclusions, and deductions.  At the same time Corporate Income tax needs to be levied on all corporate income again without special exemptions, exclusions or deductions.  Only after all of those changes takes place can we see a lessening of income inequality and of real economic growth.  When the bottom 50% are able to make discretionary expenditures rather than spending 100% of earnings on necessities will true economic growth return to America.