But how can we pay for it?

Money, money, money. According to the Republicans (and some Democrats who act more like Republicans at times) all of our problems are due to the fact the government spends too, too much money. Social Security – we can’t afford it. Medicare, Medicaid, and Obamacare – we can’t afford it. Apparently the only things we can afford are more wars, but that’s another subject for another day.

What the Republicans don’t say is why we can’t afford it. Simply put it’s because, for the last 40 years, they have been whittling away at the government’s income through cutting taxes on the very wealthy and corporations. So the rich get richer and the rest of us, well we have to do with deteriorating government services. This then allows the right-wingers to argue that there is no money and anyhow government doesn’t work. How convenient.

Well there is a way to get the resources needed to provide services and support (and even expand) Social Security, Medicare, provide tuition free public college education for all who want it, etc. And it will have other beneficial side effects.

It’s called the financial transaction tax. Put simply the government puts a very small tax on all financial transactions (for example stocks and derivatives). A 0.1% tax (that’s a $1 tax on every $1000) would result in well over $130 billion a year in new revenue. Other benefits include

·        it would not have any effect on the vast majority of Americans who don’t “play” the stock market

·        it would begin to address the inequality that threatens our democracy by taxing those who use money to make money

·        it would reduce the probability and severity of stock market bubbles by discouraging short term stock trades.

There are hundreds of billions of dollars more that could be gleaned from the 1% through raising the rate paid by the top income brackets and closing corporate loopholes.

Sounds like new, radical ideas. Not hardly. The US had a tax on stocks until the mid-60s. That was when the top income tax bracket (for millionaires) was over 70%, corporations actually paid a significant share of taxes and we had a strong and growing middle class.

Actually all we would be doing is UNdoing what has been done in the last 40 years. Ahh, the good old days.