Protecting Millionaires v. Jobs Rebuilding Bridges, Roads & Airports
Tomorrow, the Senate will attempt to take up the Rebuild America Jobs Act — part of the president’s jobs plan that will put hundreds of thousands of construction workers back to rebuilding our crumbling roads, bridges, airports, and other critical infrastructure. This comes after the GOP voted down the president’s entire jobs plan and then voted against nearly 400,000 jobs for teachers, cops, and firefighters.
Investing in Jobs by Making Millionaires Pay Their Fair Share
These critical job-creating investments are paid for by instituting a very small 0.7 percent (yes, that’s ZERO-POINT-SEVEN percent) surtax on any additional income above $1 MILLION — the first million is still only taxed at today’s low rates. That means that someone making $2 MILLION a year — which puts them in the top 0.5 percent of Americans — would be asked to pay an extra $7,000 on their second million dollars in income. Just 345,532 taxpayers nationwide would be impacted by the surtax.
Even this modest surtax would not bring tax rates on the very wealthiest Americans anywhere near where they were under Presidents Clinton or Reagan; however, this small step is an entirely reasonable way to pay for the creation of 450,000 Americans jobs for workers in one of the industries hit hardest by the jobs crisis.
Priorities
We’ll let Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) take this one:
So, tomorrow my Republican colleagues will face a choice. The choice is not whether to invest in roads or bridges, or whether the richest of the rich can spare a few dollars for the sake of our economy. The choice is about priorities.
Who will Republicans put first — the millions of ordinary Americans struggling to find work and put food on the table? Or the millionaires and billionaires whose biggest problem is that they may have to pay an additional $7,000 on the second million they make each year?
We ought to be able to agree that making enough money to pay even a dollar more under our plan is a wonderful problem to have.
Survey Says: More Than Seven in 10 Americans Backs Investments Like Those in the Rebuild America Jobs Act
The CNN/ORC poll from Oct. 17 showed just how out of touch the Tea Party Republicans in Washington are:
72% of Americans support “increasing federal spending to build and repair roads, bridges and schools”
70% of Independents and 54% of Republicans support funding our infrastructure
IN ONE SENTENCE: Tea Party Republicans will have a third chance to choose between protecting millionaires and billionaires or putting 450,000 of their fellow Americans back to work.
Evening Brief: Important Stories That You May Have Missed
Condoleeza Rice doesn’t think the invasion of Iraq was a preemptive strike.
Will anyone benefit from the removal of the individual mandate?
The home of gay rights pioneer Frank Kameny will be listed on the National Register Of Historic Places.
The unraveling of MF Global provides a stark reminder of why we need to implement the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation.
GOP gubernatorial nominee David Williams calls the governor’s participation in a Hindu ceremony “idolatry.”
House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) says “nobody wants to pay for” improved infrastructure, as Democrats plan a paid-for spending bill.
The superintendent of a San Diego school district stands up for a lesbian couple in high school crowned homecoming king and queen, and is furious at the adult “bullies.”
A must-see segment on global warming and extreme weather.
Bishop Gene Robinson explains why religious people should support the 99 Percent Movement.
Chart: What a Real Jobs Plan Looks Like
The folks over at 1600 Pennsylvania put together this chart comparing the president’s jobs plan with to the mish-mash of GOP policies that Republican senators slapped together and called a jobs plan.
(Click for full size.)
