CT's Broken Tax System: Republicans Are NOT Inclined To Fix This, Are Democrats?

My Left Nutmeg:: A more progressive income tax is the answer:

"The solution, as advocated by Connecticut Voices for Chidren, is a more progressive income tax. Adopting higher income tax rates for married couples who earn more than $250,000 (and individuals who earn more than $132,500), as proposed by the legislature's Finance Committee, would raise an estimated $1.226 billion in additional revenue to close the budget deficit, while affecting less than 7 percent of Connecticut taxpayers.

Even under this proposal, income tax rates on Connecticut's wealthiest residents would still be lower than the rates in most neighboring states. Of the 41 states with income taxes, only seven have a lower marginal rate for the wealthy than Connecticut.

And even with this rate increase, the share of income paid in state and local taxes by Connecticut's wealthiest 5 percent would still remain smaller than what is paid by the 'bottom' 95 percent of families. That is, this change would only begin to make the state and local tax system less regressive.

In the long term, a progressive income tax could help to reduce the state's over-reliance on regressive property taxes, creating additional revenues in more prosperous years that could be used to more fully fund education at the state level."

A Serious Look At Socialism And America

Connor Clarke has a nice short dicussion on the Atlantic blogs with links to longer discussions worhty of reading.

What Socialism Looks Like - Conor Clarke

How close? This is what socialism looks like:

Socialism Gaining Popularity: Gee, Who Da Thunk It? (oh yeah, Karl Marx)

New poll data from Rasmussen.

Only 53% of American adults believe capitalism is better than socialism.

The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 20% disagree and say socialism is better. Twenty-seven percent (27%) are not sure which is better.

Adults under 30 are essentially evenly divided: 37% prefer capitalism, 33% socialism, and 30% are undecided. Thirty-somethings are a bit more supportive of the free-enterprise approach with 49% for capitalism and 26% for socialism. Adults over 40 strongly favor capitalism, and just 13% of those older Americans believe socialism is better.

Investors by a 5-to-1 margin choose capitalism. As for those who do not invest, 40% say capitalism is better while 25% prefer socialism.

There is a partisan gap as well. Republicans - by an 11-to-1 margin - favor capitalism. Democrats are much more closely divided: Just 39% say capitalism is better while 30% prefer socialism. As for those not affiliated with either major political party, 48% say capitalism is best, and 21% opt for socialism.

The question posed by Rasmussen Reports did not define either capitalism or socialism.

Meanwhile Republicans have a new idea.

A member of the Republican National Committee told me Tuesday that when the RNC meets in an extraordinary special session next week, it will approve a resolution rebranding Democrats as the “Democrat Socialist Party.”

Seriously? I mean ...... Seriously?