(Welcome back Representative! – promoted by Bob Brigham)
We have a problem with our economy. The raw numbers say the economic pie is growing, but the larger pieces are all going to a small minority of Americans — meaning that for most Americans, wages are barely keeping pace with inflation.
We see this rising income inequality clearly in recent IRS data, which show that the share of income going to the wealthiest Americans is the highest it has been since before the Great Depression. To pick but one example of this disturbing trend, last year the average CEO made more in one day than the average worker made over the entire year.
Clearly, it's time to reconnect the economic fortunes of front-line workers to those of their CEO's — who are commonly making making tens of millions of dollars annually — by cutting off tax subsidies for these enormous compensation packages if they are more than 25 times the salary of the lowest paid worker in the company.
When the economy is growing and the only people who are benefiting are the wealthiest among us, we have a problem with our priorities.
When the share of income going to the wealthiest Americans is growing, and the number of people living in poverty is rising as well, we have a problem with our priorities.
When issues like income inequality and poverty are not part of our national political debate, we have a problem with our priorities.
It is time to finally put to rest the ridiculous idea that if we just take care of the wealthy then the rest of the economy will take care of itself. The evidence is overwhelming: it is just not true.
That's why I have introduced new legislation designed to fight income inequality in America starting at the top: by reconnecting the economic fortunes of those in the executive suite with those of their frontline employees.
My bill, the Income Equity Act of 2007, is a simple, common sense piece of legislation that would limit the amount of executive compensation corporations can deduct as a legitimate business expense to 25 times the pay of a company's lowest paid worker.
It's not the government's job to tell corporations what they can pay their executives, but American taxpayers have the right to choose whether or not to subsidize these out of control executive salaries. If a corporation chooses to provide compensation packages that are disconnected from the wages of average workers, then I believe we should have a say over how much of that compensation is tax deductible.
If you'd like to help us build support for this legislation in Congress, you can click here to email your Representative today.
While this particular driver of income inequality can be slowed through specific legislation, it speaks to a larger trend that will require comprehensive changes to fully address. In short, the basic assumptions of the Bush “ownership society” have been shown to be bankrupt: the culture of individualism; the conviction that people who aren't getting ahead “just aren't trying”; the belief that government's only responsibility is to protect business and the wealthy, and the rest will magically take care of itself — these ideas are not just unsustainable, but fundamentally at odds with the sense of collective responsibility that is a core part of who we are as a nation.
On a very basic level, we understand that our fates — rich and poor alike — are ultimately connected. I believe that we should aspire as a nation to be judged not by how well we do by the wealthy, but rather, in the words of gospel, by how we treat “the least of these.”
I hope that this legislation is something that will start a conversation about the best way to address widening inequality here at home, and best wishes to everyone for a wonderful Thanksgiving!