Take Back the Center

Progressive Taxation for a New Progressive Agenda

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€19,99
  • Reality-based
  • arguments
  • against
  • right-wing
  • fantasies:
  • the
  • case
  • for
  • reducing
  • income
  • inequality,
  • rebuilding
  • our
  • infrastructure,
  • investing
  • in
  • education,
  • and
  • putting
  • people
  • back
  • to
  • work.Midcentury
  • America
  • was
  • governed
  • from
  • the
  • center,
  • a
  • bipartisan
  • consensus
  • of
  • politicians
  • and
  • public
  • opinion
  • that
  • supported
  • government
  • spending
  • on
  • education,
  • the
  • construction
  • of
  • a
  • vast
  • network
  • of
  • interstate
  • highways,
  • healthcare
  • for
  • senior
  • citizens,
  • and
  • environmental
  • protection.
  • These
  • projects
  • were
  • paid
  • for
  • by
  • a
  • steeply
  • progressive
  • tax
  • code,
  • with
  • a
  • top
  • tax
  • rate
  • at
  • one
  • point
  • during
  • the
  • Republican
  • Eisenhower
  • administration
  • of
  • 91
  • percent.
  • Today,
  • a
  • similar
  • agenda
  • of
  • government
  • action
  • (and
  • progressive
  • taxation)
  • would
  • be
  • portrayed
  • as
  • dangerously
  • left
  • wing.
  • At
  • the
  • same
  • time,
  • radically
  • anti-government
  • and
  • anti-tax
  • opinions
  • (with
  • no
  • evidence
  • to
  • support
  • them)
  • are
  • considered
  • part
  • of
  • the
  • mainstream.
  • In
  • Take
  • Back
  • the
  • Center,
  • Peter
  • Wenz
  • makes
  • the
  • case
  • for
  • a
  • sane,
  • reality-based
  • politics
  • that
  • reclaims
  • the
  • center
  • for
  • progressive
  • policies.
  • The
  • key,
  • he
  • argues,
  • is
  • taxing
  • the
  • wealthy
  • at
  • higher
  • rates.
  • The
  • tax
  • rate
  • for
  • the
  • wealthiest
  • Americans
  • has
  • declined
  • from
  • the
  • mid-twentieth-century
  • high
  • of
  • 91
  • percent
  • to
  • a
  • twenty-first-century
  • low
  • of
  • 36
  • percent—even
  • as
  • social
  • programs
  • are
  • gutted
  • and
  • the
  • gap
  • betweeen
  • rich
  • and
  • poor
  • widens
  • dramatically.Ever
  • since
  • Ronald
  • Reagan
  • famously
  • declared
  • that
  • government
  • was
  • the
  • problem
  • and
  • not
  • the
  • solution,
  • conservatives
  • have
  • had
  • an
  • all-purpose
  • answer
  • to
  • any
  • question:
  • smaller
  • government
  • and
  • lower
  • taxes.
  • Wenz
  • offers
  • an
  • impassioned
  • counterargument.
  • He
  • explains
  • the
  • justice
  • of
  • raising
  • the
  • top
  • tax
  • rates
  • significantly,
  • making
  • a
  • case
  • for
  • less
  • income
  • inequality
  • (and
  • countering
  • society's
  • worship
  • of
  • the
  • wealthy),
  • and
  • he
  • offers
  • suggestions
  • for
  • how
  • to
  • spend
  • the
  • increased
  • tax
  • revenues:
  • K-12
  • education,
  • tuition
  • relief,
  • transportation
  • and
  • energy
  • infrastructure,
  • and
  • universal
  • health
  • care.
  • Armed
  • with
  • Wenz's
  • evidence-driven
  • arguments,
  • progressives
  • can
  • position
  • themselves
  • where
  • they
  • belong:
  • in
  • the
  • mainstream
  • of
  • American
  • politics
  • and
  • at
  • the
  • center
  • of
  • American
  • political
  • conversations,
  • helping
  • their
  • country
  • address
  • a
  • precipitous
  • decline
  • in
  • equality
  • and
  • quality
  • of life.
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