A Tax on Professors?

http://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2009/12/a-tax-on-professors

Stanford University's Alvin Rabushka replies to the demands for a tax on banker bonuses with a suggestion of his own -- "In keeping with President Obama's pledge not to raise taxes on single persons earning less than $200,00 and married couples less than $250,000 a year, I suggest a 50 percent bonus tax on all professors whose earnings exceed those levels. Moreover, because the professors are so keen on progressivity, I further propose an additional 5 percent bonus tax on each incremental $50,000, up to a maximum bonus tax of 75 percent on earnings exceeding $450,000 and $500,000 for single and married taxpayers respectively. Moreover, to avoid any loopholes, professors should also pay these bonus taxes on dividends and capital income, including hitherto tax-exempt bonds." This would have hit both Mr. Obama, who earned book income while on the University of Chicago Law faculty, and White House economic adviser Lawrence Summers, who earned $5.2 million a year for his one-day-a-week job at the D.E. Shaw hedge fund while serving as a Harvard professor.

by Editor  |  Dec 17, 2009 at 3:24 pm Related Topics:  Banking, Compensation, Definition of 'Rich', Income Inequality, Lawrence Summers, Non-Profits, Taxes receive the latest by email: subscribe to the free futureofcapitalism.com mailing list