Majority Agenda: Make It Easy to Tax the Rich

Why It Matters

Raising taxes on the wealthy would be a major fiscal lever to fund public services and address inequality, reshaping revenue, corporate and investment dynamics and prompting significant political and lobbying battles. Public backing for such measures increases the political feasibility and potential impact on budget priorities and economic policy.

Summary

The speaker argues the U.S. should raise taxes on the wealthy to fund expanding government priorities like health care, child care and college, noting the top 1% now capture roughly 21–22% of income versus about 8% fifty years ago. Tax policy has shifted dramatically: top individual rates fell from 91% in the 1950s to 37% today, corporate rates from 50% to 21%, and capital gains remain taxed at 20%, enabling many high earners to pay far lower effective rates. The current tax code’s loopholes and strategies—such as financing consumption with loans—allow billionaires to avoid significant taxes. The speaker contends higher taxes on the rich enjoy broad public support and would not cripple economic growth, citing stronger growth during eras of higher top rates.

Original Description

The wealthiest Americans once paid a top tax rate of 91% and the economy thrived. Today that rate is 37% and billion dollar corporations pay an average of just 13% thanks to loopholes and decades of tax cuts designed to benefit the rich.

CEPR Senior Economist and Co-founder Dean Baker explains how the tax code was rewritten in favor of the wealthy, what it is costing the rest of us, and what a fair system would actually look like.

Dean's policy brief:

https://bit.ly/MA_ProgressiveTax

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The Majority Agenda is a collection of policy briefs developed by CEPR experts on important issues where Americans generally have broad agreement across the political spectrum. The project covers three areas: Good Jobs, Strong Infrastructure, and Fair Play.

Each brief succinctly outlines what is at issue, why it is important, and presents some recommendations that would bring about substantive changes to public policy.

All 14 Majority Agenda policy briefs:

https://bit.ly/MajorityAgenda