Green Party on Tax Reform

	Green Party on Tax Reform Party Platform

Shift taxes from individuals to corporations & wealthy

Our current tax system is outrageously unjust. It is riddled with loopholes, subsidies and dodges for corporations and the super-rich. Most working people pay too much in taxes compared to corporations, multi-millionaires and billionaires. Many of our biggest and most profitable corporations pay little or no tax. Much investment income is taxed at less than the rate workers pay.

We can afford to cut taxes for most people if we make corporations and the super-rich pay their fair share. Then we can cut them even more when we halt our nation's wasteful spending on wars, weaponry and militarism.

We call for progressive taxation, shifting tax from individuals to corporations, taxing "bads" not "goods," taxing unearned income at the same rate as earned income, taxing speculation on Wall Street, and cutting corporate tax giveaways.

Source: Green Party Platform adopted, July 12-15 2012 in Baltimore , Jul 15, 2012

A universal basic income (negative income tax) for everyone

We call for a universal basic income (sometimes called a guaranteed income, negative income tax, citizen’s income, or citizen dividend). It would go to every adult regardless of health, employment, or marital status, in order to minimize government bureaucracy and intrusiveness into people’s lives; the amount would be sufficient so that anyone who is unemployed can afford basic food and shelter; and local governments would supplement it where the cost of living is above the norm. Source: 2008 Green Party Platform from 2008 Chicago Convention , Jul 13, 2008

Tax incentives to redistribute unbalanced wealth

The accumulation of individual wealth in the U.S. has reached grossly unbalanced proportions. It is clear that we cannot rely on the rich to regulate their profit-making excesses for the good of society through “trickle-down economics”. We must take aggressive steps to restore a FAIR DISTRIBUTION OF INCOME. We support tax incentives for businesses that apply fair employee wage distributions standards, and income tax policies that restrict the accumulation of excessive individual wealth. Source: Green Party Platform, at 2000 National Convention , Jun 25, 2000

Reform system to provide tax justice

Middle-class and poor people are paying an ever greater proportion of federal taxes, and too often local and state taxes are unfair and regressive. The tax code is a labyrinth of deductions, loopholes, exemptions and write-offs, the result of insider- and industry-lobbying that has damaged our economy as it has served the interests of big business and financial institutions.

We call for SYSTEM-WIDE TAX REFORM that acts to simplify the tax system. Subsidies, export incentives, tax loopholes and tax shelters that benefit large corporations now amount to hundreds of billions of dollars each year and must be cut to the bone.

We call for a tax policy that moves to eliminate loopholes and other exemptions that favor powerful interests over TAX JUSTICE. Small business, in particular, should not be penalized by a tax system which benefits those who can “work” the legislative tax committees for breaks and subsidies.

Source: Green Party Platform, at 2000 National Convention , Jun 25, 2000

Support progressivity; no flat tax

We call on new approaches to taxation, such as ENVIRONMENTAL TAXES as a partial substitute for income taxes.
We believe that we must take a closer look at the costs and benefits of consumption and VALUE-ADDED TAX approaches.
We do not support a FLAT TAX, but agree that the host of deductions and adjustments to income, dividends and miscellaneous revenue afforded under the current system to those at the top produces cynicism on the part of most Americans toward their tax system and government.
We would raise corporate taxes. The corporate share of taxes has fallen from 33% in the 1940s to 15% today, while the individual share has risen from 44% to 73%, according to the Alliance for Democracy.
Greens support progressivity in taxation as a matter of principle, believing that those who benefit most from the system have a responsibility to return more, their “fair share.”

Source: Green Party Platform, at 2000 National Convention , Jun 25, 2000

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Page last updated: Feb 24, 2022