Staff Quotes

January 30, 2023 • By Carl Davis

The Geographic Distribution of Extreme Wealth in the U.S. Excessive concentration of wealth runs counter to our national aspiration for genuine equality of opportunity, and it saps the vitality of our democracy through the consolidation of power and influence. Tax policy offers a powerful means of beginning to address our nation’s stark level of inequality, […]

October 7, 2022 • By Brakeyshia Samms

How the Inflation Reduction Act’s Tax Reforms Can Help Close the Racial Wealth Gap Centuries of discrimination have prevented people of color from building wealth, leaving them economically disadvantaged compared to their white peers. Taxes have played a role in creating and sustaining it, and they can also play a role in narrowing that gap.

July 30, 2021 • By Aidan Davis

Child Tax Credit Expansion Acknowledges There Is More We Can Do for Children “Decades of public policies have built inequities into our economic system, yet some political leaders and public figures continue to perpetuate the myth of a level playing field in which anyone who works hard enough can have it all.”

April 21, 2021 • By Matthew Gardner

On Corporate Tax Avoidance “[A majority of people] recognize this basic unfairness: When you give big companies tax breaks, you’re taking them away from small businesses. The corporate tax reform debate has overwhelming public support, agenda-setting power and international agreement in preventing corporate tax avoidance.”

January 21, 2021 • By Amy Hanauer

On COVID-19 and Economic Recovery “There will be calls for austerity from politicians who were happy to incur debt to pay for tax cuts but now want to deny necessary aid. Fortunately, both economic experience and public opinion support paying to help with job loss, housing, and economic aid. The risk right now is not spending […]

January 23, 2020 • By Amy Hanauer

On the COVID-19 health and economic crisis “The current disaster threatens our health and our economy. Ongoing crises stem from fast-accelerating climate change, skyrocketing inequality, and inadequate federal response to both. We as a country have the resources to address collective problems. But solving them requires that we pull together, raise taxes on those most […]

July 26, 2019 • By Meg Wiehe

We shouldn’t wait for Washington to tax the rich. We can begin at the state level. Examining the federal policy landscape is a logical place to start, but state policymakers are missing a key opportunity if they don’t join this national conversation and take a hard look at how their tax codes are affecting individuals […]

February 28, 2019 • By Steve Wamhoff

Americans have long wanted progressive taxes but few, if any, lawmakers publicly backed this view. What’s happening now isn’t a shift in public opinion, rather it’s Washington finally catching up with the American people.

The Tax Law

January 2, 2018 • By Alan Essig

The truth is, if lawmakers truly wanted to craft a tax overhaul that would benefit working people most, they would have started from fundamentally different principles and developed policies that would provide true tax relief for all working families while shutting down favorable tax treatment for rich people.

Lawmakers should not allow monied interest to trump the voices of their constituents.

December 15, 2017 • By Alan Essig

You’d have to subscribe to the bizarre, Orwellian theory that middle-income people’s economic anxiety will somehow be assuaged by watching the rich grow richer to believe that the pending plan is good for working families. But we’re not too far down the rabbit hole. Principled lawmakers can heed the calls of their constituents and vote, […]

Expert Quote

April 27, 2017 • By Alan Essig

“For the better part of the 20th century, the nation’s economic pie grew as did incomes for all Americans. But for the past 40 years, wages for ordinary Americans have stagnated while income growth and wealth have concentrated at the top. Our nation’s tax and other public policies play a big part in this damaging […]