“I trace the inequality to a particular set of decisions that we took when we lowered the tax rate from 91% down to very low levels at the top, where we stripped away regulations. So the result of that was not a more dynamic economy, but a more unequal society. We tried the experiment of trickle-down. A third of a century later, we can say fairly definitively that it was a failure.” DecisionLevelsResultsEconomyCenturyParticularTaxesLowsThirdsRateExperimentsInequalityRegulationLow LevelTrickle Down Author:Joseph Stiglitz
“The rich believe that they're different and that it is their right to pay a much lower tax rate. The response that you see from people on Wall Street, their dismissal and their almost contempt for the concerns about their culpability in the financial crisis, about the income inequality, shows that they are completely out of touch.” PeopleBelieveDifferentShowsPayRichStreetsWallTaxesConcernCrisisResponseRateFinancialIncomeInequalityContemptFinancial CrisisIncome InequalityDismissalCulpability Author:Robin Wells
“Egalitarians create the most dangerous inequality of all - inequality of power. Allowing politicians to determine what all other human beings will be allowed to earn is one of the most reckless gambles imaginable. Like the income tax, it may start off being applied only to the rich but it will inevitably reach us all.” HumansMayHuman BeingsRichDangerousPoliticianTaxesDetermineIncomeInequalityAllowingRecklessGambleIncome Tax Book:Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays Source: Ever Wonder Why?: and Other Controversial Essays
“The growing inequality of wealth and income distribution is both a moral and economic problem. If the wealthy are unwilling to pay more taxes, then this is going to lead to spending cuts. And if you put off the table things like national defense, then you're going to end up cutting more and more out of programs that aid the poor. So, I think there are consequences to this idea that tolerance for inequality requires us to - to just do nothing to make the wealthy contribute a higher share of resources to fund the government.” IfsThinkingIdeasEndsProblemGovernmentWealthPoorPayMoralCuttingGrowingShareEconomicHigherTaxesConsequenceResourcesProgramTablesSpendingDefenseAidsToleranceIncomeInequalityFundWealthyDistributionUnwillingNational DefenseEconomic ProblemsSpending CutsIncome Distribution Author:Bruce Bartlett
“Trickle down economics is a fraud. Giving tax breaks to the rich and large corporations does not create jobs. It simply makes the rich richer, enlarges the deficit and increases income and wealth inequality. We need economic policies which benefit working families, not the billionaire class.” NeedsGivingDoeJobsWealthClassBreakRichEconomicPolicyTaxesBenefitsEconomicsIncreaseIncomeInequalityCorporationsFraudDeficitBillionaireEconomic PolicyTax BreaksTrickle DownWealth InequalityTrickle Down Economics Author:Bernie Sanders
“The story of Detroit's bankruptcy was simple enough: Allow capitalism to grow the city, campaign against income inequality, tax the job creators until they flee, increase government spending in order to boost employment, promise generous pension plans to keep people voting for failure. Rinse, wash and repeat.” PeopleEnoughStoriesGovernmentJobsOrderGrowsSimpleCitiesPlansPromiseTaxesCapitalismIncreaseCreatorSpendingCampaignsIncomeEmploymentInequalityGenerousRepeatsVotingDetroitBankruptcyBoostPensionGovernment SpendingIncome InequalityJob CreatorsPension Plans Author:Ben Shapiro
“That's an important Obama accomplishment: he raised taxes back to Bill Clinton levels, and made a major dent in inequality doing so. That's certain to be reversed, that's going to disappear. The Republicans are going to slash the rich's taxes.” MadeImportantCertainLevelsRichRepublicanTaxesMajorsBillsClintonRaisedDisappearInequalityAccomplishment Author:Jonathan Chait
“I think liberals should accept that if we want big programs that significantly reduce inequality - and we should - it's going to require higher taxes on everyone. The rich can certainly do more, especially given their stupendous income increases since the Reagan era, but they can't do it all.” IfsThinkingWantShouldBigsGivenAcceptingRichHigherTaxesProgramIncreaseIncomeInequalityEras Author:Kevin Drum
“What the Democrats do with income inequality is punish the people at the top of whatever bracket we're talking about. If it's income, they want to raise taxes. They want to impugn, punish, institute more regulations, just make it tougher and tougher and do what they can to take money from them.” PeopleIfsWantTalkingTaxesRaisesDemocratIncomeInequalityRegulationInstituteIncome InequalityBrackets Author:Rush Limbaugh
“When you think of policies that are going to address inequality of wealth, you have to be very thoughtful about what economists call "incidence of taxes." If most of the savings is being done by capitalists, and you tax the return on capital, then they will have less to invest. That would mean, over the long run, that the rate of interest would go up. That would therefore undo some of the intent to lower the income of capitalists.” ThinkingMeanLongDoneRunningInterestWealthPolicyTaxesRateInequalityThoughtfulCapitalistEconomist Author:Joseph Stiglitz
“We are seeing a working-class, a middle class, which over the last three decades has seen their wages and income stagnate, while the very rich have seen their tax burden lighten in ways not seen in three or four decades. It's a face of a country that we need to look at and understand that inequality is perhaps the greatest threat to our economic recovery and democracy, and in that context we must take action.” CountryActionDemocracyRichEconomicTaxesThreatBurdenRecoveryInequalityMiddle Class Author:Katrina vanden Heuvel
“There is this fashionable progressive notion that everything is so completely political that the idea we could have some sort of neutral legal process is practically utopian - because we all know that the more money you have, the more rights you can exercise in this society. But I don't think that you deal with income inequality by limiting the First Amendment rights of affluent people. I'd rather see people screw around with the tax code to redistribute wealth a little bit than screw around with the First Amendment.” PeopleThinkingPoliticalWealthExerciseTaxesInequalityCodeProgressiveFirst AmendmentFashionableUtopian Author:Wendy Kaminer