Conservative policies hurt Americans

Paul Carman, Henderson

Thursday, Dec. 16, 2010 | 2:04 a.m.

Regarding Bob Jack’s Monday letter to the editor, headlined “Liberal policies are undermining opportunity”:

Mr. Jack writes of punitive taxation policies that undermine the rich and their capability to earn and be successful. But nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, tax rates are lower today than at anytime in the past 50 years. Further, if the George W. Bush tax cuts were repealed, we would be at mid-1990s tax levels, a period when we had dramatic economic growth and prosperity.

Mr. Jack also speaks of current policy as undermining economic vitality. But under the eight years of the Bush administration, we went from a budget surplus to a huge deficit, brought about by unfunded wars and the large tax cut. Further, over the past 10 years, that tax cut has benefited only the top 2 percent of wage earners, while the middle class has actually declined in real income.

The fact is, only the wealthiest Americans have benefited from conservative policies. When one asks about tax fairness, ask this: Why do Americans earning $60,000 pay Social Security tax on 100 percent of that amount; while those making $1 million pay Social Security taxes on 10 percent of their income. That is unfair tax policy.

If we removed the payroll tax cap, we would fund the Social Security system in perpetuity, lower individual tax withholding and lower small-business withholding. Bam! The Social Security problem would be solved.

Ninety-five percent of Americans have seen their lifestyles erode under conservative policy. It took Bush eight years to get us into this mess; it will certainly take more than two years to fix those problems.