Via B&P (bold emphasis mine):

“At a time when Republicans in Congress are cutting funding and sacrificing the needs of everyone from pregnant women and students to firefighters and nurses, and even seniors and veterans, this legislation asks that the wealthiest Americans tighten their belts and contribute to our economic recovery, just like the rest of the nation,” said Congressman Yarmuth. “It is a critical step to ensuring our economy works for all Americans, and not just the wealthy few.”

Currently, the richest 1 percent of Americans control 34 percent of our nation’s wealth 120 percent more than they did 30 years ago and more than the entire bottom 90 percent of income-earners. The top one-hundredth of 1 percent now earns an average of $27 million per household per year, while the average income for the bottom 90 percent of Americans is about $31,000.

At the same time, the tax rate for just the top 400 earning households has declined by almost 50 percent over the last 20 years as their income has grown five times larger.

There are currently four tax brackets progressively impacting Americans earning between $1 and $373,650 per year but only one for earners making more than $373,650 annually.

The awesome legislation would enact new tax brackets for incomes beginning at $1 million as follows:

* $1 million -$10 million: 45%
* $10-$20 million: 46%
* $20-$100 million: 47%
* $100 million to $1 billion: 48%
* $1 billion and over: 49%

Give the man a hand (and a pat on the back).

UPDATE: Here’s a taste of some of the coverage the legislation is getting from The Hill, including a quote from foolish, orange-tinted Republican Speaker of the House, John Boehner, R-Sun Tan City:

The current top (tax) bracket starts at roughly $373,000, and the current top rate is 35 percent. Citizens for Tax Justice, which has endorsed the tax proposal, estimates that it would raise roughly $79 billion in revenue.

Republicans on Capitol Hill have long stressed that they believe Washington has less of a revenue problem than a spending problem. At a separate Wednesday event, House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reiterated his belief that higher taxes stand in the way of job creation.

“As someone who understands what uncertainty does to small employers, obviously, more regulations, higher taxes creates more uncertainty,” said Boehner.

But Schakowsky declared that the idea of raising taxes on the wealthy is popular, citing a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that found 81 percent of adults thought it was totally or mostly acceptable to place a surtax on people over $1 million a year. (Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is pushing for a millionaire surtax, has also referred to that survey to help make his case.)

From The Courier-Journal:

“We have a tremendously unjust system,” Wayne, D-Louisville, said at a news conference. “… We believe we should be reducing the taxes on working people and that those who are not paying their fair share, especially the top 5 percent income earners, should be paying additional taxes.”

Under his bill, people with incomes of up to $76,000 would see their taxes go down, Wayne said, and only those with incomes of more than $136,000 would face a significant increase.

Other parts of the plan include a 50-cent-per-pack increase in the cigarette tax; a reduction in the pension income tax exclusion for individuals with significant non-pension income, and application of the 6 percent sales tax to some services used mainly by the wealthy such as security, limousine and professional landscaping.

He said the plan would generate $471 million in new revenue a year for the state.

He acknowledged that the bill has a slim chance at best to pass this session but said “the debate needs to continue.”

Wayne previously discussed his long-time support of tax reform with LEO Weekly a year ago:

“It is a tax increase” Wayne continues, “but only for the top 5 percent. The standard we use is fairness. Right now, the rich cannot use the amount of money they’re paying and say that’s fair, compared to the amount the poor are.”

Wayne’s assertions are backed by fact: Research conducted by the Institute of Taxation and Economic policy show that, in 2007, a non-elderly family earning roughly $23,000 a year pays 10.8 percent of their income in taxes, whereas those earning $346,000 (or more) are subject to a 6.1 percent rate.

Speaking of political realities, the elements of Wayne’s bill that would likely provide the most resistance (aside from taxing the state’s wealthiest) would be the imposition of several new “service taxes” designed to squeeze jet-setting, golf-playing tycoons — which pretty much describes a large swath of Wayne’s Frankfort colleagues and their respective benefactors — by levying surcharges onto greens fees, chartered commercial flights and professional landscaping services, among others.

“Entertainment for working-class folks is taxed now already,” Wayne says. “Every time you buy a ticket at Six Flags you’re being taxed. One of the things this bill aims to do is tax the wealthy in the same way.”

To see why Wayne is absolutely right (and slots/dinosaur/coal-humping Gov. Steve “Get off our backs!” Beshear is wrong), visit Citizens for Tax Justice’s extensive coverage of Kentucky’s regressive, fucked-up tax code.