Bill Gates and me

By Arthur Perlo

The Republicans want to give Bill Gates a present. And guess what? I'm going to get the same thing. And so are you.

The Republicans say, don't waste money on education and dumb stuff like that. It's the peoples money. Let's give it back to them. We'll give the same to everyone a 10 percent reduction in our Federal Income Tax.

I'm as happy as the next person to have my taxes cut. Especially since I'll be getting the same treatment as Bill Gates. A typical family will get back close to $100, which is nothing to sneeze at. Enough to pay that overdue electric bill, and still take the family out to McD's. Maybe we'll run into Bill Gates there!

Maybe not. I don't know what taxes Bill pays on his gazillion-dollar fortune, but I'll bet he gets well over $1 million out of this tax cut deal. Enough for a lot more than a greasy burger and some fries.

In fact, under the Republican plan, one-third of the total benefits would go to just 1 percent of the people Bill Gates and his richest friends. Of the remaining money, most (almost another third) would go to the next richest 10 percent of the people. But the least wealthy 60 percent will have to share less than 10 percent of the benefits. So this flat tax cut turns out to be anything but equal.

But it's worse. The Republicans want to cut only the income tax not other federal taxes. Most Americans pay more in social security taxes than they do in income tax, and more still for gasoline and other federal taxes. But Bill Gates doesn't pay much more for Social Security tax than you or me. It wouldn't help him to cut that. Which is probably why they want to cut the tax that hits Bill the hardest.

Even some Republicans choke on this. At a meeting of Republican "moderates," Connecticut Gov. John Rowland said, "The good news is that the rich people and the business people still like us. But that's about it." Rowland wants to change the image of Republicans. But the substance isn't much different.

In Connecticut, Rowland has worked hard to give tax cuts to rich people and big business - the people who like Republicans. And while the biggest benefits go to the rich, he has sugar-coated his policies with small tax-cuts and rebates for ordinary workers especially better-paid workers.

This year, he wants to give another tax rebate changing the rules so that lower income people won't qualify at all. It is so blatant that a New Haven Register headline declared, "Only rich reap from the Rowland proposal ... the wealthier you are, the more likely it is you'll qualify."

So what? What if the rich are raiding the candy store again? At least we'll get a few crumbs out of it enough to pay a couple of bills.

But it adds up to big money $100 billion a year for the Republicans' 10 percent proposal, and $80 million in Connecticut for Rowland's deal. The $100 billion could pay for a lot of schools, health care, etc. It could fund the Martinez Public Works Jobs Bill twice over a bill they "don't have enough money for." In Connecticut, $80 million was just about what was required to allow nursing homes to increase staffing and start to make up for seven years of declining conditions.

Finally workers do deserve a tax cut. If Bill Gates and his richest buddies paid their fair share, we could cut federal, state and local taxes for the rest of us, and still have enough money to increase spending for health, education, jobs, and the environment.