A QUICK FIX FOR 2012Even if we started today, it would take years to put the proposed
reform in place. In the meantime instituting an immediate simple wealth
tax could be used to jolt the economy out of its doldrums. This web-page
also demonstrates the power of a very small wealth tax on the very, very,
very large sums of money amassed by the very, very wealthy. If
instituted, it would test some of the claims made here about the
advantages of the comprehensive tax.
Quick-fix wealth tax rate: A federal tax of 1% on the portion of any household net worth over $1 million. [This is a simplified, somewhat smaller version of the wealth tax proposed elsewhere in this site as part of true, comprehensive tax reform./
Any households with less than a million dollars net worth (90% of all households) would pay nothing
For the top 10%: For example, a household with 3.15 million dollars net worth, would have
their fortune reduced to 3.13 million
dollars, probably still enough for them to get by.
The tax would increase government revenue by 360 BILLION DOLLARS, which could be used do any of the following:
Give each household (with income under $100,000 and net worth under $1 million)
a $3600 tax rebate to jolt the economy forward
OR
Reduce the projected 2011 federal deficit by 30%
OR
Fund the annual costs of the health care bill, increase federal spending on education and transportation by 30%,
double federal spending on basic and health research, quadruple federal spending on renewable energy research,
send each household a $500 tax rebate, and reduce the deficit by $70 billion dollars.
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