These force structure savings would total $593.7 billion over the 2012-21 period. Relative to higher spending levels in the president\u2019s budget request, they would represent $816.7 billion in savings over the next decade.<\/p>\n

5. TAX REFORM AND MODERNIZATION<\/strong><\/p>\n

The People\u2019s Budget<\/em> seeks to restore fairness to the tax code.<\/p>\n

Reforming Taxation on Individual Income and Wealth
\n<\/em><\/strong>The People\u2019s Budget <\/em>would allow the Bush tax rate structure to expire on schedule when last December\u2019s tax deal expires on December 31, 2012. It <\/em>would immediately rescind the upper-income tax cuts, instead maintaining only those tax cuts for individuals earning less than $200,000 and joint-filers earning less than $250,000. Specifically, the budget would let the 33% and 35% tax brackets revert to 36% and 39.6%, respectively; reinstate the limitation on itemized deductions and personal exemption phase-out; and end all capital gains and dividends tax cuts. The People\u2019s Budget<\/em> would:<\/p>\n

\n
• Rescind the estate tax cut in December\u2019s deal and replace it with Senator Bernie Sanders\u2019 (I.-Vt.) Responsible Estate Tax Act (S. 3533). The policy would include a $3.5 million exemption ($7 million for married couples), leaving 99.75% of all estates fully exempt.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

   <\/p>\n

  \n
  • Adopt Representative Jan Schakowsky\u2019s (D.-Il.) Fairness in Taxation Act (H.R 1124), which would create several new tax brackets for high-income earners: $1-10 million would be taxed at 45%; $10-20 million, 46%; $20-100 million, 47%; $100 million to $1 billion, 48%; $1 billion and over would pay 49%.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    \n
    • Eliminate the preferentially low rates on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends, and it would tax all capital income as ordinary income under the marginal tax rate structure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
      \n
      • Limit the rate at which itemized deductions can reduce tax liability to a maximum of 28%. This policy would only affect itemizing tax filers currently in the top two income brackets.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

         <\/p>\n

        \n
        • Replace the tax exclusion for interest with a direct subsidy to borrowers. Under this policy, state and local governments would make taxable interest payments to borrowers and receive a 15% subsidy from the federal government for the interest paid on those bonds.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

          Corporate Tax Reform and Responsibility Fees<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

           <\/p>\n

          \n
          • Impose a leverage tax (0.15% of covered liabilities) on large banks with more than $50 billion in assets. The fee would provide an incentive for large firms to decrease their liabilities, helping to rectify the problem of \u201ctoo big to fail\u201d financial institutions that was made all too apparent during the financial crisis.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
            \n
            • Impose a small tax on transactions of exotic financial products to further the policy goal of taming speculation and encouraging more productive investment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
              \n
              • Eliminate fossil fuel tax preferences as detailed by the president\u2019s budget. Specifically, this policy would repeal exploration and development expensing, preferential tax treatment of royalties, and domestic manufacturing deductions, among other tax preferences, for oil, natural gas, and coal producers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                \n
                • Reinstate the Superfund excise taxes that expired in 1995 in order to finance cleanup of hazardous waste.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
                  \n
                  • Eliminate the deferral of income from U.S.-controlled foreign subsidiary corporations and instead tax all foreign earnings as earned. Foreign tax credits (reducing U.S. tax liability by the amount of tax paid to foreign governments) would still be allowed, although the credit limits would be treated differently. The U.S. parent corporation would no longer split domestic and foreign expense activities, so the credit would only be allowed against tax liability to foreign governments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    The People’s Budget is an alternative budget put forward by the co-chairs of the 80-member Congressional Progressive Caucus. In contrast to the Ryan and<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":8672,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[128,946],"tags":[2512,999],"yoast_head":"\n