AFL-CIO says tax cuts for the rich cost $11.6 million every hour

Tax Cuts for Rich Cost $11.6 Million Every Hour

It’s really a shame Republicans in Congress don’t want to raise taxes on the super wealthy to help fund needed repairs to our nation’s bridges and roads—which in turn would create badly needed jobs for some of the nation’s 26 million unemployed and underemployed or those who have stopped looking for work.
Because tax cuts for the wealthiest 5 percent cost the U.S. Treasury—that’s you, gentle taxpayer—$11.6 million every hour of every day. That nauseating figure comes to us from a new rolling counter of the cost of Bush’s taxcuts on taxpayers by the National Priorities Project (NPP). The project notes:
 

In total, the top 5 percent of wage earners live in 1.4 million households. They earn $477,453 per year, on average, and will receive an average tax cut of $66,384 in 2011. Conversely, the bottom 20 percent of wage earners will receive an average tax cut of $107 this year. The wealthiest 5 percent of Americans earn 33 percent of all U.S. income.

Rep. Eric Cantor (R-Va.), who called the Occupy Wall Street participants, “mobs,” now is giving lip service to the need to address the nation’s growing wage and wealth inequality. In reality,  Cantor voted to make the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy permanent—a move that would decimate the nation’s budget. As NPP writes:

Between 2001 and the current projected end of the tax cut extension, tax cuts for the wealthiest 5 percent will cost the U.S. Treasury $1.184 trillion. If extended through 2021 as some lawmakers propose, the total cost will exceed $3.2 trillion.

Warren Buffet and eight other billionaires have been publicly willing to tell Congress to raise their taxes for the good of the nation. Now, the 99 percent represented by protestors at Occupy Wall Street events across the nation have the backing from some among the 1 percent who have posted their support online here.
Opportunists like Cantor see the tide turning and recognize they are out of step with 99 percent of the voting public, so they are cloaking their real agenda–supporting their corporate masters—with populist rhetoric.
Don’t believe them.