John Edwards WantsTaxes to Match US Values of Work & Equality

John Edwards, 2004 Democratic vice presidential candidate and former US Senator, is now Chairman of the Center of Poverty, Work and Oportunity, housed at the University of North Carolina's law school.

John Edwards, the son of working-class parents, spoke eloquently during the 2004 campaign of "two Americas...with two sets of books: one for those at the top who get all the breaks, and one for the rest who do all the work."

In an April speech at New University, John Edwards proposed an overhaul of the US tax system to reflect the Constitutional and faith-filled values of equality and work with its tax policies.

This article uses speech excerpts to briefly sum his ideas. Please invest time to read the entire text.

About Bush tax policy, he said, "They don't believe work matters most. They don't believe in helping working people build wealth. They genuinely believe that the wealth of the wealthy matters most. "

"Our tax code should honor every kind of work...Everyone who works should have a chance to build up...wealth to offer their family security in time of trouble, wealth to pass on a better future to their children.

A just tax system reflects a just society. This is the time to say that a stockbroker should never pay a lower tax rate on wealth than a secretary pays on work."

"First, we must write a firm principle into the tax code: the wealth of the wealthiest can never be taxed less than the work of the rest of America. Today, wealthy Americans can shelter unlimited amounts of unearned (investment) income from being taxed at the rate working Americans pay...That's wrong."

"We must take away the biggest shelter in the current tax code: the very wealthiest are able to shelter capital gains and dividends from the Alternative Minimum Tax.

The very purpose of the AMT is to make sure the very wealthy pay their fair share...But the AMT is (now) doing exactly the opposite. It is increasingly hitting middle class families. At the same time, the AMT is not taxing many of the multi-millionaires it was meant to tax."

"Third, we should strip out the sweetheart deals that make lobbyists and insiders rich, and give the country a tax code that amkes Americans richer....

We need to shut down special loopholes and abusive tax shelters, collect the taxes that are owed, and use the savings to pay down the deficit and cut taxes for hardworking families.

We should repeal the billions of dollars in corporate tax giveaways passed only last year...on everything from dog tracks to railroad tracks."

"Not only do we rarely tax overseas income from US companies--we often given them an extra $78 billion in tax breaks.

Our tax laws actually support the outsourcing of millions of jobs. That's wrong and Americans want us to get this right.

We need to crack down on tax havens, small countries that attract business by helping foreigners and corporations avoid their taxes in the US."

"...we have seen how when corporations fail, ordinary workers lose their pensions but some CEOs walked away with golden parachutes...The Financial times calls this group 'the barons of bankruptcy.'We must end the abuse of the tax advantage of executive pensions."

"Today, 25% of working families are living on the edge of poverty. They have so little in the bank, they can't survive more than 3 months if something happens to their income....

Savings incentives...would not just be good for families, they'd be good for the economy, too.... Using our tax code to encourage asset-building is one way to fight poverty."

"If we are all truly equal in the eyes of the Lord and the Law, if we are all given an equal chance to rise to our full potential, if we believe that there is dignity in hard work, then poverty has no place in America."
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"Sometimes I hear wealthy and successful folks say 'I earned this money. The government shouldn't take it away.' And they're right they did earn their money, and government shouldn't take a nickel more than necessary.

But the truth is nobody earns his or her money alone. They earn it thanks to America. They earn it because America protects private property, enforces contracts, and yes, punishes torts. They earn it because America has securities law that protect the integrity of our markets. They earn it becasue Aemrica has public schools and universities that give everyone the tools to get ahead.

So nobody goes it alone, and everybody has a responsibility to help everyone else get ahead.

Our tax code is done the wrong way. It undermines our values....I believe that our tax code should honor one value above all the others: work. Work gives our lives meaning, and work gives our country stength."