Tax Day: Time for Shared Responsibility
April 15, 2010
Today is tax day, the day that each of us steps forward to pay our fair share for our roads and schools, law enforcement and firefighting, clean water and public works, community centers and parks, and the many vital public services our communities depend on.
Most Americans recognize that paying taxes is part of our responsibility to our country. Unfortunately, the wealthiest Americans and many large corporations are not paying their fair share.
Tax cuts for the rich during the Bush era put more money into the hands of Americans who need it least. Some members of Congress want to extend those tax cuts. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities calls such an extension “highly ill-advised,” and says that long-term extensions of such tax cuts would increase “deficits and the debt for as far as the eye can see — thereby adding to the long-term risks that deficits and debt pose to the economy.”
After all, the tax rates for the richest Americans have actually gone down in recent years.
The Center for American Progress points out that some big corporations, like ExxonMobil and other oil companies, aren’t paying their fair share, either.
Oil companies pay less in U.S. taxes in part because they receive generous tax subsidies. These subsidies will cost the U.S. government approximately $3 billion next year in lost revenue and nearly $20 billion over the next five years.
Tax breaks for big oil companies and the wealthiest Americans mean fewer services for our communities, and higher taxes for working Americans. The Center for American Progress agrees that cutting those subsidies would help our nation: “The billions in tax subsidies we spend each year should support government priorities that generate results and value for the American people.”
