The US democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton proposed a 4% tax surcharge for rich Americans whose annual income is $5 million or higher. Such “Fair Share” surcharge would be applied in addition to any other income tax paid by high-net-worth individuals. Currently, the U.S.top income tax rate is 39,6% for married couples that earn more than $466.950 a year, not including a payroll tax of 3,8% that is levied on unearned income.
The surcharge scheme proposed by Clinton is one of the major points in her political agenda, which focuses on raising incomes of middle-class households.The aim of the “Fair Share” surcharge is to:(1) decrease the gap between super-rich and middle-class American families; (2) assure that “wealthy pay their fair share”; and (3) prevent high-income earners from evading tax through other means.
Although only 0,2% of Americans would be liable to pay the new surcharge, the “Fair Share”surcharge would raise about $15 billion per year (according to the preliminary estimation). The collected revenue would be used for covering federal expenses.
