The Green National Committee is considering four more proposed amendments to the Fair Taxation section of the Green Party of the United States’ national platform, most of which pertain to wealthy individuals and corporations, adding to several related proposals already under discussion.
The Green Party Platform Committee introduced the latest proposals on September 16, two days after the initial five proposals were brought before the national committee. Like those earlier items of business, the four new measures have been sponsored by the Arizona Green Party and the party’s Banking and Monetary Reform Committee and seek to make adjustments to the Fair Taxation section of the party’s Economic Justice and Sustainability platform.
One of the new proposals would add language to the section on fair taxes for corporations and the wealthy in support of a highly graduated individual income tax with a top incremental rate of 94 percent for the wealthiest individuals. The proposal anchors that figure to the top marginal individual income tax rate in effect at the end of World War II.
The national committee is also considering a separate measure that would make further amendments to the same section, this one in support of a graduated corporate income tax. The proposal would call for the party to support a top corporate rate equal to the top individual rate, which the proposal similarly identifies as 94 percent.
A third amendment would substantially revise the party’s existing position on wealth taxation. The current platform calls for an annual tax of 0.5 percent on an individual’s assets above $5 million. The proposed language would instead call for a 10 percent annual tax on net assets exceeding 100 times median annual income. The rate would further increase as an individual’s excess net worth rises, with the proposal calling for the wealthiest individuals to face an incremental wealth tax rate above 50 percent.
The fourth and final proposal of the recent batch would revisit the national Green Party’s existing position on tax subsidies for the oil, gas, coal, nuclear, timber, and mining industries. The current platform already calls for eliminating tax subsidies for those industries. The proposed revision would retain that existing position while adding a requirement that companies extracting products from public property pay “a fee or royalty to the public” as a stipulation for doing so.
These prospective changes come alongside the five earlier proposals, which seek to amend the party’s official positions on income tax exemptions, Social Security and Medicare taxes, and the tax treatment of wage and salaried workers. One of those proposals would also add a new party position calling for an end to public tolls and certain government fees.
The four new proposals, much like the five earlier ones, will remain before the national committee for discussion through October 11, with voting slated to begin the following day and run for a week. Each proposal requires a two-thirds majority among those casting either a yes or no vote.
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