John Podesta/Center for American Progress' tax reform "wages & unearned"

[papau]

John Podesta will unveil the Center for American Progress' tax reform plan at a 12:30 pm ET

http://www.kintera.org/htmlcontent.asp?cid=42300

A Fair and Simple Tax System for Our Future: A Progressive Approach to Tax Reform

What:

Few issues will gain more public and political attention in coming years than tax reform -- both fundamental reforms and incremental changes to our tax code. Through successive tax cuts that primarily benefited the very wealthiest, President Bush has already made the federal tax system more complicated and unfair, while starving the nation of revenues needed to meet our current and future challenges. Now, the president has indicated he will seek to move our tax system even further in this dangerous direction by making tax reform a central priority of his second term policy agenda.

The Center for American Progress has developed a progressive alternative vision for tax reform based on restoring fairness, simplicity and opportunity to our tax system while generating the resources necessary to meet our nation's priorities. American Progress is holding a forum to release its comprehensive plan for progressive tax reform, which will include a panel discussion on the specifics of the plan and the broader issues and challenges of reforming our tax code.

Featuring:

William G. Gale, Arjay and Frances Fearing Miller Chair, Deputy Director and Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution and Co-director, Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center

John S. Irons, Associate Director for Tax and Budget Policy, Center for American Progress

Peter R. Orszag, Joseph A. Pechman Senior Fellow in Economic Studies, The Brookings Institution and Co-Director, Tax Policy Center, Urban Institute and The Brookings Institution

Robert M. Solow, Institute Professor Emeritus, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Moderated by:

John D. Podesta, President and Chief Executive Officer, Center for American Progress


CAP describes the plan as offering "comprehensive tax reform that rewards hard work and promotes shared prosperity." According to CAP, its plan for tax reform "would restore fairness to our tax code by equalizing the treatment of all income-wages and capital income alike."

"The plan would tax each kind of income according to the same rate schedule, whether the income is derived from wages, salaries, capital gains, or dividends."

CAP says the plan would generate nearly $500 billion in new revenue and shift the share of taxes away from the regressive payroll tax and onto a restructured income tax while providing new incentives for retirement savings and an average tax cut of $600 for the overwhelming majority of Americans making under $200,000 annually."

"The net result of the plan — a more progressive tax system that reduces taxes on the middle class and strengthens Social Security's financial foundation by closing half of the current long-run shortfall in the trust fund."