No, I’m not suggesting that we lower taxes on the poorest people; as you mention, they are already effectively at 0%. I’m talking about taxing all types of income at the same (progressive) rates as earned income. We could keep the same tax rates as we have now (maybe small bumps up, back to Clinton or Reagan-era levels), but tax cap gains, dividends, etc. just like earned income.
Couple that with tweaking our tax and trade policies to favor companies who keep their manufacturing base here, and we would be well on our way to “broadening the tax base” (because more people would be working and earning higher wages which could be taxed more), and we could work down our deficit and debt problems, IMHO.
