Congressional Socialists Want to Raise Taxes on the Rich

According to the Peoples World, a group of congressional Democrats, By independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, are pushing legislation that would increase taxes on millionaires.

The authors of the Senate and House bills, Sen. Sanders and Rep. Jan Schakowsky, D-Ill., both long time affiliates of Democratic Socialists of America,  argue raising taxes on the rich is necessary to curtail the deficit and to keep vital social programs from being chopped off. The Senate bill, S 552, was introduced March 16 and the House bill, HR 1124, March 10.

"The fact is, Republicans don't want to do anything to take away tax breaks from the richest Americans, and we want to stimulate that debate," says Rep. Schakowsky .

"Do we establish an emergency deficit reduction tax on millionaires and billionaires," Sanders' legislation asks rhetorically, "or do we deny over 200,000 little children the opportunity to enroll in Head Start by cutting this program by $1.1 billion?"

"We didn't want to get into too much nuance about, well, should it be 250, 300, 275," said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., co-chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and a bill co-sponsor. "I think setting the cap where it is - millionaires - sets a starker option."

Sanders and Schakowsky say their millionaires tax proposals would raise as much as $50 billion and roughly $79 billion respectively, as well as narrow the huge and growing income inequality between the working class and the corporate rich.

Sanders with Detroit DSA, June 25, 2006

Bernie Sanders is a long time affiliate of the Democratic Socialists of America Marxists and worked with that organization to establish the now more than 80 strong Congressional Progressive Caucus.

Chicago DSA, 2005 Debs Dinner program

Schakowsky was a member of Democratic Socialists of America before entering Congress and has remained close to the organization up until the present day.

Meanwhile, nearly 30 year Democratic Socialists of America affiliate President Barack Obama has called again for increasing taxes on those earning more than $250,000 in the White House's fiscal 2012 budget request earlier this year.