Since the 1970’s until now, the wealth gap has increasingly widened as time progresses.
Due to constant control of wealth and slow wage gains, Obama is proposing a tax increase
among the wealthy from 23.8% to 28% for couples who earn over $500,000 per year.
Obama plans on making the wealthy pay more on investments, eliminating inheritance
loopholes, raising fees on the largest financial institutions, and using changes in tax codes
to help slow the increasingly widening wealth gap. While also proposing to utilize tax
breaks for middle and low income households in the form of tax credits, education tax
breaks and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit. According to the Congressional
Budget Office data, between 1979 and 2011, the average after-tax income for the bottom
20% of U.S. households rose 48%, while the top 1% saw their incomes rise 200% during
the same time frame.
This proposal will help to alleviate a monopolization of assets among the wealthiest in the
nation, given that the top 3% own 54% of all assets and 7% hold another 21% according to
the Federal Survey of Consumer Finances. Raising taxes for the wealthy would yield more
profit into the economy, instead of allowing the wealthy to hoard their money, as they have
done, it would give them reasons to invest. As an alternative, taxes would apply to the