Jill Stein on Tax Reform Green Party presidential nominee; Former Challenger for MA Governor

Rich should pay 55%-60% taxes, not 15% or 35%

Jill Stein: America wasn't meant to be an aristocracy. 22 billionaires have as much money as 50 percent of the US population. We need a progressive income tax, with the rich paying at least at the 55 to 60 percent level.

Hillary Clinton: What I have proposed would be paid for by raising taxes on the wealthy because they have made all the gains in the economy. And I think it's time that the wealthy and corporations pay their fair share to support this country.

Increase inheritance taxes; use it as "Aristocracy Tax"

Stein: I'd call it the "Aristocracy Tax." We instituted an estate tax so we would not have massive inherited wealth so we would not have an aristocracy like we left behind in Europe. Now wealth disparities are greater than ever in history--we have more than an aristocracy going on. An aristocracy tax is only part of it--a couple can pass on $11 million in wealth before it's taxed--that's pretty outrageous--and it got codified under Obama--he made permanent the Bush tax cut on that aspect. We need to massively reduce the inheritance gift--the aristocracy gift--and broader tax reform so we don't have such massive accumulation of wealth in the first place. We need to restore the inheritance tax and it should be progressive at higher levels of inheritance.

Incomes rise for wealthiest 1% but their taxes have fallen

A: It's outrageous that the wealth of the top 1/10 of 1% has risen in the past decade while their taxes are cut via capital gains. No one is even talking, Democrat or Republican, about restoring the capital gains tax. The solutions even by progressive Democrats barely begin to scrape the surface of the problem.

Fees and sales taxes hit lower and middle income hardest

Beacon Hill has allowed the budget to be balanced by raising a number of taxes and fees that hit working people hard. They have raised the sales tax, college tuition, MBTA fares, and tobacco taxes. By cutting aid to cities and towns, legislators have forced hikes in property taxes.

When all state and local taxes are considered, lower and middle income people in Massachusetts are paying at twice the rate of the top 1% highest income bracket. This is not a fair system, and Beacon Hill has made it even more unfair with tax hikes over the past decade.

Jill Stein will fight any attempt to balance the budget through tax or fee hikes that hit ordinary taxpayers. She will stand for the fairness solution--which means closing any budget gap by asking higher-income taxpayers to pay something closer to the rate that most people have been experiencing for years.

Close tax loopholes & stop corporate welfare

Replace “trickle down” with 50% tax cuts on lower incomes