1. Give tax incentives to corporations. The current administration gives tax breaks to the wealthy, but they give no stipulations. Their idea is supply side economics, saying if the wealthy have more money they will invest more in their company producing more jobs and better pay. However, many times the money is pocketed by the top, and fails to do what is adequate to stimulate the economy. In my economic plan tax breaks would be given to corporations based on meeting these criteria:
*No layoffs- if a company doesn't fire employees based on lowered profits they will get a tax break.
*Net Gain in jobs.
*Living wage- the minimum wage is far to low and has failed to match the rise of inflation. No tax breaks will be given to any corporation failing to pay a living wage to its workers. Living wages should be calculated by the cost a family can live on in whatever area they are in. Therefore a living wage in Chicago would probably be more than in Cincinnati. Hence there would not be one national living wage.
*Also tax breaks will be given to corporations if the lowest wage people in a company's annual income get closer to the annual income of the highest wage person. The wealthiest 20% of this country have continued to get richer while the bottom of the United States continues to suffer. The bottom 20% of Americans control NEGATIVE 1% of the countries wealth, while the top 20% control 85% of the countries wealth. This trend needs to end.
*Health Insurance for all employees
2. Give Tax incentives to small businesses. Small businesses pay far too many taxes, these are the businesses that should most be encouraged in this country, and we need to make it easier for them to stay afloat. Again tax breaks will be given for.
*Living Wages
*Proof of Using Legal Labor- many small businesses are using illegal labor, and are paying people far less than minimum wage. The Raines administration believes this unfairly hurts the legitimate businesses that are trying to abide by the law. The Raines Administration will give tax breaks to small businesses that can document all their labor as being legit.
*Health Insurance for all employees
*Also if your small business is not making a profit the Raines Administration will give a tax break for 2 years to help you remain afloat. We want to encourage entrepreneurial businesses. Small business gets to the heart of American values and provides the most competition which results in a better economy.
3. Stand up for Unions. The rights of the workers to demand better wages for their labor should be encouraged. Through Unions workers have shortened the work week, and made for a more prominent middle class in America. Corporations that discourage unionizing will not be tolerated.
4. Completely altering the United States free trade policy. Globalization has resulted in millions of jobs leaving the United States for foreign countries. This has resulted in the collapse of industrial cities such a Flint, Michigan. These collapses have lead to high crime rates, and even higher unemployment. The Raines Administration will revamp its trade agreements to meet certain human rights and environmental criteria. These criteria will encourage companies to stay in the United States preventing the loss of many American jobs.
5. Progressive Taxiation According to Ability to Pay- First and formost the cost of living should not be taxed...at all. This should not be for one person, but for every single American. Say the cost of living is 30,000 dollars a year. The first 30,000 dollars that every American makes would be tax free under the Raines Administration. Whether you make 250,000 a year or 32,000 a year. Than you progressively increase the rate on the excesses. Here is an arbitrary example of how it would work. Say there were five different rates. 0% from 0-30,000; 15% from 30,001-75,000; 25% from 75,001 to 200,000; 35% from 200,001 to 1 million; and 45% from 1 million up. So if someone made 32,000 dollars in year..his first 30,000 would be tax free. So the taxes he would pay in a year would be 15 percent of 2000 dollars. This strategy of course makes it so all Americans fit into the same tax bracket, because no matter how much you make you are taxed the exact same way. Not only that the incentive is still there to make more money, because your tax rate on your first 30,000 dollars never increases..even when you make more than 30,000 dollars. My progressive tax plan will be simple, because everyone is taxed the same, it will allow people never to be taxed on what it costs to live their lives, and it keeps incentives in place to make more money. It is true to the spirit of capitalism and the free market, and also true to the beliefs in economic justice.