We lay out 3 specific ways to target and reduce the wealth gap in society, including taxing billionaires’ SuperPAC contributions.
Video by Faiz Shakir and Addison Post
TRANSCRIPT
FAIZ SHAKIR, MORE PERFECT UNION: We know the problem.
RONALD REAGAN CLIP: Tax cuts. And this is only the beginning.
FOX NEWS CLIP: Since 1976, the top .001 percent, their wealth is up 3,000 percent.
SHAKIR: For at least five decades now, America has created a tax code that favors wealth accumulation by the rich over the income earned by workers, resulting in a record-setting wealth gap.
CBS NEWS CLIP: Warren Buffett, Jeff Bezos, Micheal Bloomberg, and Elon Musk pay little or sometimes nothing in federal income taxes.
SHAKIR: Fortunately, the American public is loud and clear as to what needs to happen.
PROTEST CLIPS: Tax the rich! Tax the rich!
SHAKIR: But How? How specifically are we going to tax the rich? I traveled to meet with the ultra-wealthy…
NICK HANAUER, ENTREPENUR AND VENTURE CAPITALIST, TO SHAKIR: I mean I know a bunch of these people personally. A lot of these people are narcissistic sociopaths. They just don’t give a rip about anyone but themselves.
SHAKIR: …tax and budget experts…
MICHAEL LINDEN, TAX AND BUDGET PROFESSOR AT GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY, TO SHAKIR: We know for a fact that some of these very, very wealthy people and corporations are literally paying zero.
SHAKIR: …and even anti-tax conservatives to better understand how our tax code works.
SHAKIR, TO GROVER NORQUITS, ANTI-TAX ADVOCATE: In your view, trickle down does work.
NORQUITS: Well, it does trickle down.
SHAKIR: What I learned is that making our tax code work for everyone is not so complicated and that if we want to solve it, we can draw inspiration from the very man whose ‘Reagonomics’ led us into this mess.
REAGAN CLIP: Common sense told us that when you put a big tax on something, the people will produce less of it.
SHAKIR: We’ll discuss three key ways to put a big tax on extreme wealth, so that we produce less of it. Let’s get into it.
This is Big Ideas, from More Perfect Union.
