What is the definition of insanity? A popular quote — attributed to Albert Einstein but most likely from author Rita Mae Brown (novel “Sudden Death” published in 1983; character of Jane Fulton) — probably says it best: “The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result.”
We have been manipulating the tax code over the past 45 years, both at a Federal and on individual state levels, consistently favoring and coddling the wealthy in the pursuit of so-called “trickle-down” economics in the hope that economic benefits will somehow trickle down to the working class. However, despite these efforts, nothing notable has actually trickled down to the working class.
Here is what has happened instead (sources: IRS, SSA, Federal Reserve Bank).
A comparison between 1981 and 2023:
The “trickle-down” theory was postulated by Arthur Laffer and others in the late 1970s that tax cuts and benefits for the wealthy would stimulate the economy and ultimately benefit everyone. However, evidence has shown that the benefits primarily accrued to the wealthy, and they did not share their wealth, so that income inequality has increased and the promised economic growth has never materialized.
Nearly all of the wealth created is concentrated at the top.
In 1983 the top 10% of households held 25.9% of total household wealth, but by 2023 that same top 10% held 66.9% of total household wealth. The top 1% of households held 18.9% of household wealth in 1983 but by 2023 they held 30.9% of total household wealth – a staggering $49.2 trillion. This is greater than the household wealth of the entire U.S. middle class.
Republicans continue to this day to sell the mirage of “trickle-down” economics despite the large amount of real-world data showing that it has not worked and has contributed to levels of income inequality not seen since the Gilded Age prior to the Great Depression. It is simply insanity to continue to pursue this policy despite the mountains of evidence that it doesn’t work.
Daniel Herbert-Voss, White City
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