Politics

Congresswoman: Wealthy should pay higher taxes since they’ve ‘benefited’ from things we ‘all paid for’

Nicholas Ballasy Senior Video Reporter
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Democratic Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois told The Daily Caller that the super committee on deficit reduction should recommend tax increases for wealthy individuals since they have “benefited” from “things that we have all paid for” like “roads and education.”

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“The middle class and those who aspire to it have been sacrificing for the better part of 30 years right now and have seen their income go down and the share of taxes that they pay has been significant,” Schakowsky said, “and so I think that right now what we need to create fairness is to ask those who have benefited so much from, and from things that we have all paid for, for roads and the education of their workers and all the things that we all pay for.”

“I think it’s time for them to pay their fair share. This isn’t about revenge. This isn’t about punishment. This is just about fairness,” she told TheDC at the Capitol on Oct. 26.

In March, Schakowsky introduced the Fairness in Taxation Act, which would create the following new tax rates for millionaires and billionaires:

• $1-10 million: 45%
• $10-20 million: 46%
• $20-100 million: 47%
• $100 million to $1 billion: 48%
• $1 billion and over: 49%

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