(The following column by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) appeared on the Huffington Post website on March 13, 2011.)
The rich are getting richer. What is the Republican solution to the deficit crisis? More tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. Savage cuts in programs that are desperately needed by working families.
There is another approach, which is why I’ve just introduced legislation imposing a surtax on those households earning a million dollars or more and the elimination of tax loopholes which the big oil companies take advantage of.
In my view, we do need to boldly address our deficit crisis, but we need to do it in a way that is fair — that is not on the backs of the sick, the elderly, the children and the poor. In other words, we need shared sacrifice. The wealthiest people in this country, who are now doing phenomenally well, are also going to have to help us with deficit reduction. That is why I introduced legislation which would place a 5.4 percent emergency surtax on income over $1 million. The revenue would go into an Emergency Deficit Reduction Fund. Just doing that — asking millionaires to pay a little bit more in taxes after all the huge tax breaks they have received — will bring in up to $50 billion a year.
The full column is on the Huffington Post website.