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WASHINGTON – John McCain is pouncing on Barack Obama's call for shifting more wealth from richer Americans to poorer ones, likening it to socialism. His remarks win applause at campaign events.
But they ignore the nation's long tradition of redistributing huge amounts of wealth through tax-and-spending policies.
Placing a heavier burden on the wealthy has been a cornerstone of the federal income tax since its inception in 1913. Under its "progressive" formula, in which the wealthy pay higher tax rates, the richest 5 percent of Americans now pay well over half of all federal income taxes.
Forty percent of Americans pay no federal income tax at all, although it is the government's largest revenue source. Meanwhile, they benefit from various social programs aimed at low-income households, another feature of a system that redistributes money.
Spreading the wealth? US already does it - Yahoo! News (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081021/ap_on_el_pr/spreading_the_wealth - broken link)
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