Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen

Keeping Democracy Alive with Burt Cohen


America Will Be Lots Richer With No Billionaires

July 27, 2021

Everyone knows the tax code is there to serve the richest Americans. But when it was created, the tax code was actually intended to tax only the richest. The Progressive era was a way out of the last Gilded Age (today’s is far worse). On this show historian and sociologist Josh Mound explains that while it is complicated, there are precedents for fair taxes. Republican Eisenhower had a top tax rate of 91%–on that portion of income over a certain amount. Taxing billionaires would yield plenty of money for desperately needed infrastructure improvements. And a tax on just the richest is not going to prevent anyone from becoming very rich. It can be done.