Black Agenda Report
Black Agenda Report
News, commentary and analysis from the black left.

  • Home
  • Africa
  • African America
  • Education
  • Environment
  • International
  • Media and Culture
  • Political Economy
  • Radio
  • US Politics
  • War and Empire

Blacks and Tax Reform
Ken Morgan
15 Nov 2017
🖨️ Print Article
Blacks and Tax Reform
Blacks and Tax Reform

“Capitalists continually search for the highest return on their investments -- not creating jobs.”

The Republicans' so-called tax reform bill represents at least $1.5 trillion increased gifts to the one to ten percenters that own a disproportionate part of the wealth and means of production that fuels the economy. The corporate rate is slated to be cut from 35 to 20 percent.

The big business New York Times said their goal is to reduce the tax bills of corporations and small businesses to “stimulate investment, create jobs, increase global competitiveness, and promote economic growth.” Ironically, the bill is called the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.

Why do most of these corporations desire this cut? The world economic crises continue to squeeze capitalists’ profits. For several decades capitalists stepped up replacing workers with robots. They slashed wages; speeded up production; attacked unions; contracted out work; opposed a $15 hour or union minimum wage.

At the core of it all is the declining rate of profit. It represents a drop in the ratio of investment to profit. Capitalists refrain from capacity expanding factories, equipment, and machinery that encourage job creation. Capitalism is built to exploit workers.

Capitalists continually search for the highest return on their investments -- not creating jobs. So they speculate in stocks and bonds as well as other forms of commercial paper. Sometimes they just hang on to profits and put them in banks overseas.

“People of color will become a majority of the working class by 2032.”

Latinos and Blacks represent a disproportionate percentage of the working class if you use college graduation as a criterion. Using 2013 data according to the Economic Policy Institute data, 13 percent of Latinos and 21.2 percent of African Americans in the labor force attained a bachelor’s degree.

This figure is compared with 36.7 percent of non-Hispanic whites. The same report projects that people of color will become a majority of the working class by 2032. The labor participation rate has shrunk to 62.7 percent. Blacks bear the brunt. For us, it means an unemployment rate twice that of whites.

Democrats do not offer anything too much better. Democrats provided a skeleton of their proposal to Republicans on August 1. They said that Republicans had to "work through regular order, could not raise taxes on the middle class, or cut taxes for the one percent, and their reforms couldn't increase the deficit," according to CNN.

Malcolm X reminded us in "Malcolm X Speaks": “The difference between the Democrats and the Republicans is the Republicans will stick a 12-inch knife in your back. Then the Democrats will come along and pull it out 3 inches.”

  1. as working class and working class-minded blacks need our black independent political party, as do whites. Both groups need to identify their commonalities to put forward an agenda for working people.

Dr. Morgan is a Black, and internationalist activist scholar. He can be reached at kmorgan2408@comcast.net.

Do you need and appreciate Black Agenda Report articles? Please click on the DONATE icon, and help us out, if you can.


More Stories


  • American Democracy Is in the Mail
    Daniel Carpenter
    American Democracy Is in the Mail
    16 Sep 2020
    The post office could again become a platform for savings banks . while advancing broadband access to underserved communities
  • Labor Must Make Defense of Black Lives Its Own Imperative
    King Downing and Frances Madeson
    Labor Must Make Defense of Black Lives Its Own Imperative
    16 Sep 2020
    Some local unions have started to stand up to militias in much the same way as they have against police brutality.
  • Black Agenda Radio for Week of September 14, 2020
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Black Agenda Radio for Week of September 14, 2020
    15 Sep 2020
    Only Community Control Can Stop Police Atrocities
  • First and Foremost, Malcolm X Was “Black Minded”
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    First and Foremost, Malcolm X Was “Black Minded”
    15 Sep 2020
    If he were alive today, Malcolm X “would be a harsh and clear critic of everything that’s happening” under the Black Lives Matter banner, said Michael Sawyer, a professor of Race, Ethnicity, a
  • Capitalism and Racism Entwined
    Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
    Capitalism and Racism Entwined
    15 Sep 2020
    “There’s long been a recognition of this intertwining of slavery, white supremacy, racism and capitalism,” said Dr.
  • Load More
Subscribe
connect with us
about us
contact us