Striking Populist Tone, Mainstream Dems Push Robin Hood Tax Plan

http://www.commondreams.org/news/2015/01/12/striking-populist-tone-mainstream-dems-push-robin-hood-tax-plan

Taking a cue from the progressive playbook in what observers are interpreting as more populist tack, mainstream Democrats on Monday unveiled a new economic "action plan" to redistribute wealth from top earners to lower and middle classes.

Among the components included in the proposal, introduced by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Maryland) with backing from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of California, is a Financial Transaction Tax, also known as a Robin Hood Tax, which for years has been a staple of progressive budgetary plans.

The tax places a 0.1 percent fee on financial transactions that, under the action plan, will be rolled in with new reductions in tax breaks for the top 1 percent of earners and placed in the pockets of low- and middle-income households.

The new taxes will reportedly add up to roughly $1.2 trillion over the next decade, which would in turn fund a 'paycheck bonus credit' of $2,000 a year for couples earning less than $200,000.

Other elements of Van Hollen’s proposal include incentivizing companies to raise worker pay by placing restrictions on the tax treatment of executive salaries for companies that don’t also increase employees’ income, incentivizing worker training programs, nearly tripling the tax credit for child care and rewarding people who save at least $500 a year.