Congressional Democrats unveiled a new economic “action plan” to put a “Robin Hood” tax on Wall Street transactions and redistribute wealth from top earners to lower and middle classes (1/12).The plan, introduced by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) with backing from House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), places a 0.1% fee on financial transactions that would be rolled in with reductions in tax breaks for the top 1% of earners. The new taxes would reportedly add up to $1.2 tln over the next decade, which would fund a “paycheck bonus credit” of $2,000 a year for couples earning less than $200,000.Other elements of Van Hollen’s proposal include incentivizing companies to raise worker pay by placing restrictions on tax treatment of executive salaries for companies that don’t also increase employees’ income, incentivizing worker training programs, nearly tripling the tax credit for child care and rewarding people who save at least $500 a year, Lauren McCauley noted at CommonDreams.org.“This is a plan to help tackle the challenge of our times,” Van Hollen, a ranking member of the House Budget Committee, said during a speech at the Center for American Progress ahead of the official roll-out. “We want a growing economy that works for all Americans, not just the wealthy few.”A day after Van Hollen unveiled his proposal, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) released a “tax fairness plan” that would set a 30% minimum tax for people with multimillion-dollar incomes, regardless of credits and deductions they claim.The bill has the support of a broad coalition of liberal and progressive senators, including Democratic Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), Tammy Baldwin (D-Wash.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.).Also part of the Whitehouse plan is the “Offshoring Prevention Act,” which would end the ability of corporations to defer taxes on profits earned or sent overseas, eliminating an incentive to take such actions as moving production out of the country. Another bill in the Whitehouse package revives a proposal championed by former Sen. Carl Levin that would end the ability of corporations to avoid taxes by funneling profits through overseas subsidiaries.Read More.Source:/The Progressive Populist/Dispatches