'Let's Go!' Top Economist Applauds as Harris Signals Support for Billionaires Tax
'Let's Go!' Top Economist Applauds as Harris Signals Support for Billionaires Tax | Common Dreams
If Zucman is a fan, this is great news indeed. A 25% minimum tax on billionaire wealth sounds great, and with broad support, as the article notes (even 51% of Republicans).
Much better news, too, for those of us who only saw this part reported on til now:
The campaign spokesperson called the move—which would still leave the corporate tax rate lower than it was when Trump first took office in 2017—a "fiscally responsible way to put money back in the pockets of working people and ensure billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share." (emphasis mine)
IIRC, the corporate tax rate was slashed by Trump from 30-something percent, maybe 35%, to something like 18%, so to see that Harris was not interested in reversing this Trump tax cut fully (only to 25%) felt til now like yet another depressing instance of the ratchet effect, where the right does what they do, and neoliberals only undo part of it when they are in power.
Tax them out of existence.
Tax those mother fuckers.
In the 1950s the top marginal tax rate for couples filing jointly making over $400,000/year was 91%. Adjusting for inflation, that’s $5,200,000. Just to put our current tax structure in context.
Should be over 50% to start. Simply to aline align with current tax brackets.
In 1945 the top tax rate in the USA was 94%. This should be a goal.
But please based on wealth rather than income.
Rich people don't become rich from income.
In 1945, we operated under what was functionally a command economy at the tail end of a globe-spanning total war.
I mean, we can debate the efficacy of that economic model (re: The People's Republic of Walmart), but I'd rather the US be funding and fighting fewer wars, not more of them. FFS, if you give any number of shits about climate change, a global mobilization of killing machines is not going to point us in the right direction.
The threat and urgency of climate change is all the more reason to take that money and apply it to those problems. Not only does that help tackle the issue directly, it takes resources away from the biggest contributors to the problem. You have asshole rich fucks commuting to the office by private jet.
Why do you assume the taxes have to go hand in hand with investing in war?
Correct if I'm wrong here, but is this article just "Economist comments on something it has been claimed the Harris campaign team said, but is not explicitly mentioned anywhere in writing or in speeches"?
If she planned on taxing billionaires, she'd be shouting it from the rooftops. That's a popular policy. It's not going to be something she keeps in her back pocket and then when she's president goes SURPRISE MOTHERFUCKERS. Not that she could do it by EO anyway, but honestly, this is so far from a reality it just barely qualifies as news.
If she planned on taxing billionaires, she’d be shouting it from the rooftops. That’s a popular policy.
Not among corporate mega-donors, it isn't! Keeping it in her back pocket -- not until she's president, but until shortly before the election and, crucially, after their checks clear -- is exactly what she should do.
The article cited the 2025 budget [PDF]. It's under the section "Proposes a Minimum Tax on Billionaires".
To finally address this glaring inequity, the Budget includes a 25 percent minimum tax on the wealthiest 0.01 percent, those with wealth of more than $100 million.
Though the Harris campaign is not directly mentioned, I think we may assume it's coming from both Harris and Biden.
This is actually really helpful clarification, I did just miss some of that. It's no wealth tax, but it's better than nothing.
The supreme court will call it unlawful theft of profits and strike it down. What else could possibly happen in a federalist controlled legal system?
We really need to stop calling the republican party republican. It's not at all what it once was. It's the Federalist Society party.
First stop Joe Rogan. Not a billionaire, but he is an ignorant little bitch.
Sounds like a solid plan! I would be surprised if the public opinion here would be any different. There are no billionaires on Lemmy.
Not now, no, but I need to make sure they have a favorable tax regime for when my scratch-offs inevitably raise me to my appropriate station.
No, but there are still plenty of billionaire meat-riders here.
for realsies this time? is anyone really expecting this to happen? is this really news?
i mean come fucking on.
No, we aren't. We're hoping. Which, much as you might dislike it, is a huge reason why we fight.
is anyone really expecting this to happen?
Something's got to give. The hard split with Russia and the increasing soft split with China is threatening the global dominance of the petro-dollar. At some point, the US is going to need to in-source large parts of its economy, and that's going to require public sector investment in a period of retreating dollar-dominance. That means either we gut spending on education, transportation, and health care (which would undermine re-industrialization at home) or we raise taxes.
Twelve years ago, you had Mitt Romney talking about putting more lower-class American "skin in the game" by imposing a higher taxes to cover the 47% of Americans who don't owe income taxes. That was a prelude to the modern moment, which we'd been kinda-sorta fortunate enough to forestall by deepening our trade relations with "enemy" nations and riding a new DotCom bubble out of the COVID crisis.
But now we've got serious revenue problems at the federal and state levels. We've cut too deeply on upper class taxes, and our political incentives are only to cut deeper. Gotta make that up from somewhere, or you're back to another inflationary spiral as the US floods with its own cheap money.
Why are people downvoting the mediabias bot?
Her word means nothing.
All talk. I have yet to see a single politician actually give the people what they want. She had 4 years to do it, and crickets.
Idk what she's done, or even can do as VP, but Joe's helped get some good legislation passed, negotiated drug prices and I think he passed some gun control? Those seem like things some people want, although you might have a specific people in mind that I'm not aware of.
That’s just distraction legislation, not what people truly need. This has been happening since the early days of the election process, but none of these measures address the real needs of the public because it’s all political theater. The actual control lies elsewhere (i.e. global elite). I’ve been aware of this for decades, but only recently have others started to see it too.
"Top Economist" is a funny phrase. Kinda like saying "leading soothsayer".
Don't think I don't have sympathy or respect for the economist. I just notice that it's the only academic discipline that pledges and is expected to predict the future.
Just like experts in criminal trials, economists can be selected to prove what you already know. And just like horoscopes, it's all very convincing until you measure the predictions against reality.
I have a PhD in economics. Saying that the field "pledges" to be able to predict the future is pretty disingenuous. You'd be hard pressed to find any serious researcher in the field with that level of delusion.
the only academic discipline that pledges and is expected to predict the future
Huh? Ever heard of climate science?
Or even just astronomy. They can predict a comet's position long before it gets to where they predict it will be. And they will be right.
Gotta say, as someone who identifies as a progressive, she's really been beating my expectations compared to what she was saying and doing back in the 2020 primaries.
The fact that she didn't have to face a primary this year is a political gift. She didn't have to go.on record while jockeying to differentiate herself and the instant unanimous support from the entire Democratic party means she can just be herself
In the 2020 primaries the race was between the moderates and Bernie, why wouldn't she have felt comfortable being more progressive when Bernie was doing so well?
She started out the 2020 primaries pretty progressive, but would usually roll-back her positions a day later, presumably after some adviser told her it wouldn't play in Peoria or would anger a megadonor. Maybe that's where her heart actually lies and her trainwreck of a campaign made her realize those advisors were bad people to listen to.