Archive
Shouldn’t We Base Our Tax Policy on More than Hunches?
In January, Congress raised the top marginal tax rate on income over $450,000 from 35 to 39.6 percent. But even with this boost, that top federal rate is still less than half of what it was back in the Eisenhower years. Given the growth of the nation's debt, we need...
Big Ag’s Legal Engineering
As this spring began, another branch in the biotech giant Monsanto's sweep around any meaningful regulation of its products burst into bloom. Monsanto and its fellow "Big Six" pesticide and biotech companies — Syngenta, Dupont, Bayer, BASF, and Dow Chemical — pulled...
Texan Turf War
Turf wars can be the silliest of all scuffles, and no place does silly with more zeal than Texas. For example, the fine people of Dallas recently fell into a doozy of a turf tussle between the natives and foreigners — and the foreigners are winning. The...
Our Empire Addiction
Bribe and gun And dagger lurk, For us to make Our empire work. Ruling the world, as our government does, is tricky. Uncle Sam can never relax. The moment resisters in some subservient country, like Pakistan, sense weakness, they test him. He can't afford to be seen as...
Illegal Immigration
This Week in OtherWords: Tax Day Special Edition
This week in OtherWords, we're running a Tax Day special edition. Sam Paltrow-Krulwich talks about the "gay tax" her family must pay until the nation fully embraces marriage equality, Scott Klinger highlights the declining share of tax revenue that American...
Transplanting Taxes from Corporations to the Rest of Us
Today, corporate profits are setting all-time records while middle class families continue to struggle financially. These trends are intertwined. Whether you've clicked to send your tax forms to the IRS along the cyber-highway or dropped your return in the...
The Gay Tax
As the Supreme Court considers two cases that could lead to unprecedented rulings on the right to marriage equality, I've been paying close attention. For me, the national conversation about this civil right hits especially close to home because I'm the daughter of...
Futile Military Financing
One of the more regrettable things that Uncle Sam does with your tax dollars is sending $3.1 billion in military aid to Israel every year. He'll be doing that until 2018 — and probably after, unless Americans decide enough is enough. When President Barack Obama...
New Health Care Taxes: A Poor Prescription
An aging population and the Medicare safety net make health care costs the single biggest threat to America's fiscal future. The Obama administration is leaning on the rich to help foot the bill with two new Medicare taxes, both targeting the well-off. They take...
