There is no shortage of reasons not to vote Republican. The litany
includes tax cuts for the rich, cutbacks in government programs,
obstructing needed legislation, disregard for the environment, denial of
women's and other human rights, military escalation.
But the following five reasons have to do with money -- specifically, who's paying for the $1 trillion of annual
tax savings and tax avoidance for the super-rich? And who's paying for the
$1 trillion of national security to protect their growing fortunes? The Republicans want that money to come from the rest of us.
1. Economic Darwinism -- Republicans want the Poor to Pay
Paul Ryan's proposed
budget
would take about a half-trillion dollars a year from programs that
support the poor. This is a continuation of a 15-year shredding of the
safety net by Republicans. The GOP-controlled Congress of Bill Clinton
created
Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), which has experienced a 60% drop in its caseload despite growing poverty, and which, according to the
Urban Institute,
provides "maximum benefits [that] even in the more generous states were
far below the federal poverty level of $1,525 a month for a family of
three."
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), another vital program that serves
50 million "food insecure" Americans, would be cut by $16 billion under the House version of the Farm Bill. The average recipient currently gets
$4.30 a day for food.
Republicans also voted to end the
Child Tax Credit, and favor a tax plan that would eliminate the
Earned Income Tax Credit.
2. Payroll Tax -- Republicans want the Middle Class to Pay
Encouraged by the steady Republican demand for lower corporate tax rates, big business has effected a stunning
shift
in taxpaying responsibility over the years, from corporate income tax
to worker payroll tax. For every dollar of payroll tax paid in the
1950s,
corporations paid three dollars. Now it's 22 cents.
It's gotten worse in recent years, as corporations decided to drastically
cut their tax rates
after the start of the recession. After paying an average of 22.5% from
1987 to 2008, they've paid an annual rate of 10% since. This represents
a sudden $250 billion annual loss in taxes.
Republicans claim that almost half of Americans don't pay taxes. But when payroll and state and local taxes are
considered, middle-income Americans pay at about the same rate as the highest earners. Only about
17%
of households paid no federal income tax or payroll tax in 2009. And
average workers get little help from people who make most of the money.
Because of the $110,000 cutoff for payroll tax deductions, the richest
10% of Americans save
$150 billion a year in taxes.
3. Job Shrinkage -- Republicans want Young People to Pay
The jobs that exist for young Americans are paying much less than
just a few years ago. During and after the recession, according to the
National Employment Law Project,
low-wage jobs ($7.69 to $13.83 per hour) dropped by 21 percent, and
then grew back at a 58 percent rate. Mid-wage jobs ($13.84 to $21.13 per
hour) dropped by 60 percent and grew back at a 22 percent rate. In
other words, the median wage is falling fast.
Unemployment for workers under 25 stands at
16.4 percent, twice the national average. Half of recent college graduates are
jobless or underemployed.
Yet Republicans killed a
jobs bill that was supported by two-thirds of the public.
An
academic study
of employment data over 64 years found that an average of two million
jobs per year were created under Democratic presidents, compared to one
million under Republican presidents. Similar results were reported by
the
Bloomberg Government Barometer.
4. Retirement Planning -- Republicans want the Seniors to Pay
There's a common misconception in our country that most seniors are financially secure. Actually, Census data
reveals
that elderly people experience greater inequality than any other
population group, with the poorest one-fifth receiving just 5.5% of the
group's total resources, while the wealthiest one-fifth receives 46%.
The senior wealth gap is further evidenced by data during the great 30-year surge in inequality. The
average over-60 wealth
was five times greater than the median in 1995, as would be expected
with a small percentage of ultra-high-net-worth individuals and a great
majority of low-wealth people. Further confirmation comes from
2004 Harvard data that shows rising inequality within all age groups, including the elderly. Indeed, an
MIT study found that about 46% of U.S. senior citizens have less than $10,000 in financial assets when they die.
For the vast majority of seniors, Social Security has been life-sustaining,
accounting for 55% of their annual income. Because of this
successful and
popular
program, the senior poverty rate has dropped from 50% to 10%, and due
to life-long contributions from working Americans the program has a $2.7
trillion surplus while contributing nothing to the deficit. Yet
Republicans want to undo it.
5. Public Fire Sale -- Republicans want Society to Pay
The common good is threatened by the Republican disdain for public resources. Drilling and
mining and pipeline construction continues on
public lands, and the House of Representatives has
voted
over 100 times since 2011 to subsidize the oil and gas industry while
weakening environmental, public health, and safety requirements. The
"land grab" is pitting corporate muscle against citizens' rights.
Sadly, most of America envisions a new era of energy independence
that increases our world-leading consumption of energy while depending
on a proliferation of dirty technologies to extract it.
Threats of methane emissions, water pollution, and earthquake activity don't deter the fossil fuel enthusiasts.
It gets worse. Republicans are eager to sell public land. Paul Ryan's "
Path to Prosperity"
proposes to sell millions of acres of "unneeded federal land" and
billions of dollars worth of federal assets. His running mate Mitt
Romney admits that he doesn't know "what the purpose is" of public
lands.
That brings us to the heart of the reasons not to vote Republican.
Their reckless belief in the free market, and their dependency on
corporatization and privatization to run the country, means that
middle-class Americans keep paying for the fabulously wealthy people at
the top who think they deserve everything they've taken from society.
Paul Buchheit is a college teacher, an active member of US Uncut
Chicago, founder and developer of social justice and educational
websites (UsAgainstGreed.org, PayUpNow.org, RappingHistory.org), and the
editor and main author of "
American Wars: Illusions and Realities" (Clarity Press). He can be reached at paul@UsAgainstGreed.org.
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