New Law #1 – Forgive Student Debt
- All student loans over 10 years old will be cancelled, with no tax consequences to the borrower.
- All existing loans, federal and private, can be converted to Income-based repayments.
- Student loans will be dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Student loans have been an enormous
mistake. We must return to grants for college, not loans.
Cost to taxpayers
of Law #1:
$25 billion a year, due to reduced cash flow from federal
loan repayments
Cost to those who have
invested in student loan receivables:
$50- $70 billion a year for several years, as these
investments go bad. These losses are well deserved, as no one should profit
from unconscionable debt.
New Law #2 – Free
tuition at vocational schools
The federal government will provide vouchers for $9,000 per
year for vocational students. No other tuition can be charged. Some for-profit
schools will go bankrupt—another well-deserved loss.
Cost to taxpayers:
$35 billion a year for tuition vouchers
New Law #3 – Reduce medical debt
- All medical debts over five years old will be forgiven, with no tax consequences to the borrower.
- Patients will have access to binding arbitration over medical bills. Arbitrators will use the Medicare fee schedule as guidance.
- Any provider who still carries out aggressive debt collections will lose access to Medicare.
- Medicare will continue and expand its grants to hospitals that forgive bad debts.
Cost to taxpayers:
$20 billion a year for additional hospital subsidies
New Law #4 – Part-time and temporary employees will get
$15 an hour minimum, paid sick leave and paid holidays
- Businesses which do not comply will be fined by the Department of Labor.
- Government press releases will publicize the names of these businesses—effectively, a pro-worker boycott.
- Government contracts will only go to progressive firms; government employees will only stay at compliant hotels, hold luncheons only at compliant restaurants, etc.
- Eventually we want to see government-enforced unionization, and civil penalties for low-wage firms.
Cost to taxpayers:
$0
Cost to firms that
now rely on cheap labor and deny benefits to part-timers:
6% of payroll (estimated)
New Law #5 – All workers can receive paid family leave
for childbirth or serious illness
- Family leave payments will last six months. The payments will equal one half of salary, up to a maximum of $1,500 a month. (Employers can add to this amount.)
- Funding will come from a two-thirds of one percent increase in Social Security taxes.
- In this manner, the cost of paid leave will not be charged to individual employers.
Cost to taxpayers:
$40 billion a year in new Social Security taxes
New Law #6 – Workers can get free legal help to sue
employers
Lawsuits will be funded for:
- age discrimination
- unjust firing
- job loss due to foreign outsourcing
- dismissal without adequate severance pay
Cost to taxpayers:
$500 million a year to staff up The Legal Services
Corporation
“Let a million lawsuits bloom”
New Law #7 – Employers must pay their share of FICA
taxes for all employees
- This includes part timers and so-called ‘independent contractors’
- Employers must also pay into Unemployment and Worker’s Compensation funds for all employees – i.e. part time and full time, W-2 workers and contractors.
- Part-time workers will thus qualify for unemployment benefits.
Cost to taxpayers:
$0
Cost to affected businesses:
an extra 10% of current payroll
New Law #8 – Public defenders must be fully funded in
all cities
Uniform federal funding would be best. Enough new defenders
would be hired so that no attorney carries over 30 cases at a time, and public
defenders must be free to anyone up to middle class income.
Cost to taxpayers:
$1 billion a year
New Law #9 – All forms of ‘offender-funded justice’
must be terminated. No one will be made to pay for their own parole, or
pre-sentencing report, or for any aspect of incarceration.
Cost to Federal taxpayers
(who will now have to fully fund our
courts):
$10 billion a year ongoing
$40 billion in one-time forgiveness of existing court debts
across the nation. The federal government will pay off these fines, and will
provide financial assistance in the future so that fines are not needed.
New Law #10 – No-interest loans must be available for
emergencies, such as:
- Utility shutoffs
- Medical crises
- Legal expenses
Some non-profits already offer such loans on a limited
basis. These entities should receive $20 billion a year in federal funds to
expand their services.
Some loans will not be repaid. The programs will lose money
due to zero interest rates. That’s fine. Government support can keep these
lenders alive.
Cost to taxpayers:
$20 billion a year
FISCAL SUMMARY OF OUR PROGRAM
TOTAL RFQUIRED IN
NEW TAXES:
$165 billion a year
SOURCES OF NEW
REVENUE:
- Two-thirds of one per cent increase in Social Security taxes (for paid family leave) . . . $40 billion revenue
- 4% surtax on all incomes over $250,000 . . . $125 billion revenue
There is approximately $2.8 trillion in such income.
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