A Report for FDR, hidden since 1943, now public

[jtuck004]

From the article:

"Democracy cannot be safe, President Franklin Roosevelt warned Congress in 1938, “if the people tolerate the growth of private power to a point where it becomes stronger than their democratic State itself."

In 1943 FDR faced the same pressures of lowering the tax "burden" of the rich as we see today. He asked for a report
of who was making over $67,000 - the equivalent of about $850,000 today, their "millionaires".

Hidden away, it has been released from the National Archives, and is discussed in a paper on the site
extremeinequality.org. You can find the paper here...

Contrasted in the beginning of the article is the Federal Wage Freeze, which will save $28 billion in the Federal budget,
but the tax break for the wealthy will cost us $61 billion. This following on the heels of the revelation of the $3.3 trillion
in loans to our richest banks, over $2 trillion of which is still outstanding, and does not take into account $1.1 trillion
in Treasury Bonds, upon which interest the banks continue to rake in hundreds of billions of dollars

But it is interesting to see that in the period where America had to fight one of her largest wars, in an era which began the
greatest expansion of a nation in world history, which increased living standards for many millions of people across a very
broad swath of socity, the wealthy's fair share was 69% of their income. Today, when our debts are going higher, we no longer
invest to any significant level in our country or our people, while we are setting record levels for food stamp use, and where,
after we passed a Health Insurance Reform bill the number of uninsured has risen from 40 million to 50 million - the tax on an
income comparable to that of 1943 is about 24%.



http://extremeinequality.org/?p=256

[ck4829]

1. K&R

[Stuart G]

2. K and R

[pleah]

3. K&R

[sasha031]

4. ...K&R

:kick:

[OHdem10]

5. Corporatism is already here.

[formercia]

6. If you make it economically unfeasible for the wealthy

there won't be any more wars.

[starroute]

7. Looks like there was a lot more than that going on with taxes in 1943

I hadn't been aware of any of this -- but a little googling is proving eye-opening. It seems that even though rates on the wealthy may have been comparatively higher then, the current system of shifting the burden downward onto ordinary wage-earners in the name of shared sacrifice goes back precisely to 1943.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_home_front_during_World_War_II

Federal tax policy was highly contentious during the war, with President Franklin D. Roosevelt battling a conservative Congress. Everyone agreed on the need for high taxes to pay for the war. Roosevelt tried unsuccessfully to increase tax on incomes over $25,000, while Congress enlarged the base downward. By 1944 nearly every employed person was paying federal income taxes (compared to 10% in 1940).


http://www.marxists.org/archive/novack/1943/01/roosevelt.htm

How are the capitalists faring under Roosevelt’s “equality of sacrifice” program? Look at the following picture of “industry’s profit outlook for 1942 and 1943” presented in the December 4 United States News:

“Profits promise in 1943, as in 1942, to be better than anticipated. In 1942 profits will be about 18 per cent under 1941. Yet: except for that one year, the 1942 profits will be the highest since the 1920’s .

“In 1943, profits probably will be 10 per cent higher than in 1942 ... Prospect is that 1943 will be the peak year for war profits.

“In terms of dollars: corporation net income, before taxes, is likely to be $17,350,000,000 this year against $14,496,000,000 last year and $9,069,000,000 in 1940. Next year, corporation net before taxes will be about $19,240,000,000.


---------------------------

And here's a 1943 propaganda film with Donald Duck telling everyone it's their patriotic duty to pay their income tax: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00u6qUelp6c

[wtmusic]

8. The GOP should have absolutely nothing to say on the subject of deficits. nt

[girl gone mad]

9. k & r