Sam Pizzigati, veteran labor journalist and Institute for Policy Studies associate fellow, edits Inequality.org. His recent books include: The Case for a Maximum Wage (2018) and The Rich Don't Always Win: The Forgotten Triumph over Plutocracy that Created the American Middle Class, 1900-1970 (2012).
We haven’t of late had much in the way of political “consensus” here in the United States. But we do today have one consensus of sorts — on our tax system of all things. Most everyone considers how we go about taxing ourselves to be, at best, distinctly suboptimal. How do we change that? Where do we start? Who’s really hurting under our current tax system? Our tax “consensus” — on fundamental questions like these — breaks down immediately.
The reason: Our tax code values inherited assets at their fair market value at the moment of inheritance. Any capital gains over the assets’ original cost simply — for tax purposes — disappear.How’s that for magic!This bag of tax tricks doesn’t work at all for the one major appreciating asset that average Americans hold: our homes. We pay every year property taxes on the homes we own. If the value of our homes rises, we pay more in taxes.
Inequality Oligarchy Taxation Tax The Rich
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