Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) has introduced a bill that would ensure millionaires and billionaires contribute their fair share toward rebuilding and stabilizing our economy. Now, we need your support to move the bill forward. Please call your Representative and urge him/her to support the Fairness in Taxation Act! (Click here to find your Rep's contact info.)

Income inequality in the U.S. has reached levels not seen since the Great Depression. The policies that made that possible have also created unprecedented disparities of wealth. Today, the top 10 percent of households owns three-fourths of the country's total wealth, and the top one percent alone owns 34 percent!

The Fairness in Taxation Act would generate significant revenue to fund vital public services and infrastructure, while also reducing economic inequality.

Currently, the top tax bracket begins with incomes of $373,000 or more. In essence, households with incomes of several hundred thousand dollars are paying the same rates as those with multi-million or multi-billion dollar incomes.

The Fairness in Taxation Act would add new tax brackets for income starting at $1 million and ends with a $1 billion bracket. The new brackets would be:

• $1 - $10 million: 45%
• $10 - $20 million: 46%
• $20 - $100 million: 47%
• $100 million - $1 billion: 48%
• $1 billion and over: 49%

The bill would also tax capital gains and dividend income as ordinary income for those taxpayers with income over $1 million. If enacted in 2011, the Fairness in Taxation Act would raise more than $78 billion.

This bill makes perfect sense. It's a fair and sensible solution to our budget hardships, as it affects only those who can contribute more toward the greater good of our country without sacrificing their livelihoods. That's precisely why it has garnered the support of many wealthy taxpayers, including members of UFE's Responsible Wealth project.

Here's what some high-wealth supporters of the bill had to say:

I think very wealthy people like me should pay substantially higher taxes, since we have done exceedingly well in the last few decades. Our taxpayer-funded government contributed to my success.

– Katharine Myers, Responsible Wealth member, in a March 16, 2011 press conference with Rep. Schakowsky et al.

 

I strongly support the Fairness in Taxation Act...While I certainly wish to pass on to my children some of the wealth that I have been fortunate to accumulate, I also want my children to live in a country which avoids the political polarization that may develop as the wealth gap increases.

– James E. Mann, Co-owner of New Hampshire Business Development Corp. & Partner in MerchantBanc

 

[M]y husband and I are huge beneficiaries of government support. Every step of our careers was made possible with taxpayer dollars. We strongly feel the debt we owe our society... [R]aising our taxes would not affect our standard of living...I  heartily support Rep. Jan Schakowsky’s Fairness in Taxation Act.

– Dr. Alice Chenault, Responsible Wealth member

 

I support the Fairness in Taxation Act...because rich people can afford to pay higher taxes. About 90 percent of my income comes from investments, which currently are taxed at the lower capital gains or dividend rate of 15 percent. I would pay much higher taxes under this bill. That's fine with me, because our government helped contribute to my wealth by protecting the patents I used to start a company.

– Steve Kirsch, CEO of Propel Software Corp.

This bill has been introduced at a time when conservative officials across the country are calling for drastic cuts to education, health care and myriad other programs that will further affect our social and economic integrity.

American workers have suffered enough. We need the wealthiest members of our communities to share in the sacrifice of the economic recovery. The Fairness in Taxation Act offers a superior alternative to more painful budget cuts.

It's imperative that we speak out, together and as loudly as possible, in support of this bill and other progressive tax initiatives. With your support and the support of others like you, tax justice will always stand a fighting chance.