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- Inequality
Busy today, so just a quickie post.
In my view, climate change is the existential issue of our time. However, inequality is the societal issue that is breaking the country apart right now (and one of the main drivers of abrupt societal change in history).
One way to reduce inequality is to tax the rich/wealthy like we did during what many consider the heyday of economic success in this country - the post-World War II period up to around 1980 (when the Reagan “revolution” ushered in the period of free market worship and the trickle-down scam of supply-side economics). Back then, the top marginal tax rate in this country was roughly 90%.
Side note: the income tax as we know it was instituted in 1913 (link to chart for top marginal rates over the years).
The average top marginal tax rate from 1917 - 2023 is 58.54% (rate was single digits for the first few years)
The average top marginal tax rate from 1917 - 1980 (when Reagan came in and changed everything) is 71.81%
Excluding the first 3 years, there are only two periods when the average top marginal rate has been below 50%: 1925 - 1931 and after 1987. Interesting that those time periods preceded the Great Depression and the Tech Bubble/Great Recession respectively.
We are not taxing the rich enough. End of story.
In 2022, Massachusetts voters approved the Fair Share Amendment that levied a tax surcharge on people making incomes of over $1 million. While doubters were skeptical, it’s been a roaring success. This is exactly what Mamdani is proposing for New York City, and, of course, simian retroverts like Cuomo are screaming from the treetops that his policy proposal are extreme. Spare me the drama.
More of this please from other Dems running for Governor, Mayor and even for fed office.
PS - BTW, for an excellent (but somewhat dense - and scary) read on inequality and the few ways to bring it down in societies, I’ve found this book an excellent read: The Great Leveler by Princeton professor Walter Scheidel
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