It’s time to make our tax code more equitable
An excellent take on taxing the Black poor and the poor in general. It and its attachments are a good read which is why it is here. Taken from an advertisement.
Tell the House and Senate: It’s time to make our tax code more equitable.
The racial wealth gap has become wider during the past couple of decades. Significant economic events such as the Great Recession and the COVID-19 pandemic have drastically shifted wealth towards the well-off. This at the expense of the poor.
For example, the median wealth gap between Black and white households rose from $172,000 in 2019 to over $214,000 in 2022. Homeownership has not worked to build wealth for Black homeowners to the same extent that it has for white homeowners. This due to factors such as bias in home appraisals and a regressive property tax system.
Divergent socioeconomic realities make what comes after the upcoming expiration of key provisions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). Even more critical to addressing the racial wealth gap. Along with the monumental investments in infrastructure in the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and climate solutions in the Inflation Reduction Act, we now have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to achieve a more equitable tax system and change the trajectory of racial wealth inequality
Our tax code is fundamentally broken, and it’s hurting millions of Americans.
Billionaires pay an average tax rate of just 8.2% when all their income is included. This is far less than many middle-class families. Black families face IRS audits at rates 3-5 times higher than non-Black families. The racial wealth gap continues to widen, with the median white family now holding 8 times the wealth of the median Black family.
This isn’t just about numbers. It’ is about families struggling to make ends meet. The ultra-wealthy accumulate more money than they could spend in a lifetime. It is about communities denied the resources they need to thrive. Billions in potential tax revenue are left on the table. It is about a system that perpetuates racial inequities instead of reducing them.
But we have a chance to change this. In a new report by Americans for Tax Fairness and Color Of Change, we’ve outlined solutions to address tax policies that widen the racial wealth gap. We’re pushing for a series of crucial reforms that could transform our tax system and promote economic justice:
- Equalize the tax rates for investment income and work income. Eliminate the discount allowing wealthy investors to pay a far lower top tax rate on their income than workers do on theirs.
- More accurately tax the income generated by wealth. By assessing capital gains income taxes on the wealthiest households annually, instead of only after an investment is sold.
- Adjust the charitable contributions deduction to either be a credit for households under a certain income threshold or a deduction. Make it so it can be taken on top of the standard deduction.
- Target other deductions―like those for mortgage interest, college savings plans, and retirement accounts―to better benefit account holders with lower-value homes and smaller savings for college and retirement.
- Allow the current pass-through income deduction that primarily benefits hedge funds and other big businesses to expire, freeing up revenue to support small business owners and entrepreneurs in underserved communities.
- Implement a Billionaire Minimum Income Tax to ensure the ultra-wealthy pay taxes on their wealth gains each year, not just when they feel like it.
Enacting these reforms could generate over $500 billion in revenue over the next decade. That’s $500 billion that could be invested in education, healthcare, affordable housing, and economic opportunities in communities that have been historically marginalized.
The ultra-wealthy and their lobbyists are fighting hard to keep things as they are. We can’t let them win.
Tell the House and Senate: It’s time to make our tax code more equitable.
Take Action! (actionnetwork.org) Tell the House and Senate: It’s time to make our tax code more equitable
COC_Tax-Fairness-Racial-Equity_FINAL2-Interactive_9-3-2024.pdf Color of Change
Has anyone really come forward with a good mechanism for taxing unrealized capital gains without it becoming confiscatory? With today’s computer systems, it should be possible to tax the gains incrementally year by year to reflect the gains secured on an asset, but that same system will also need to account for decreases in the value of an asset from a preceding year in order to generate a credit for that year (or time period). For example, if an asset with a value of $100 in year 0 increases in value to $110 in year 1 and then $120 in year 2, the tax would be on the increment from the immediately preceding year. In year 3, however, if the value falls back to $110, then a credit will be due to compensate for the loss on which taxes have already been paid. Will the government also be forced to pay interest on the equivalent of a loan it received for the preceding year as well and what should the interest be for that period (Fed note, bond, corporate bond, etc. rates?)?
I’d be happy if the so-called “capital gains” rate were made a real capital gains rather than the imaginary rate the financial services industry has persuaded the government to give them. “Capital gains” should represent the risk capital has taken in holding an asset for a long period, not the insulting one year period now granted. As a society,we want patient capital being invested in our enterprises, but that should mean investors willing to wait 7, 10, maybe even something like 15 years to receive their reduced tax rate, which could go all the way to 0% to reward investors with patience, foresight, and courage. Trying to account for capital gains this way wouldn’t be any crazier or more complicated than any system which tries to tax unrealized gains.