Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rayiner | Hacker News Reader

> 2. My visit coincides with a dramatic change of direction in US policies relating to inequality and extreme poverty. The proposed tax reform package stakes out America’s bid to become the most unequal society in the world, and will greatly increase the already high levels of wealth and income inequality between the richest 1% and the poorest 50% of Americans

Really hard to take this seriously. I don’t think anyone in the US needs a tax cut right now, so I oppose the tax reform. But the fact is that before the Trump tax cuts, US corporate tax rates were higher both in theory and in practice than in Germany, France, Australia, Canada, etc. https://www.npr.org/2017/08/07/541797699/fact-check-does-the...

Our taxes are also far more progressive than Germany, France, and Sweden: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/04/05/ameri.... Trump’s tax plan won’t change that: the cuts in the top rates are very small and even most people in the top 1% won’t be able to take advantage of things like pass through treatment.

Could you explain how the statement "before the Trump tax cuts, US corporate tax rates were higher both in theory and in practice than in Germany, France, Australia, Canada, etc. https://www.npr.org/2017/08/07/541797699/fact-check-does-the... rebuts the professor's claim that the tax cuts will "greatly increase the already high levels of wealth and income inequality"?

It’s more the “bid to become the most unequal society” framing of the point. That makes it seem like the US is doing something different than everyone else. The entire OECD has been cutting corporate tax rates massively over the past few decades: https://www.downsizinggovernment.org/corporate-tax-cuts-and-....

Who mentioned corporate tax rates? There is a simple widely accepted measure for economic inequality, the Ginii index, where the USA have steadily moved towards greater inequality, from a starting point that is already a lot more unequal than other NATO or western nations. You even seem to agree that this latest tax reform will not fundamentally change this course.

This is a much more comprehensive measure than looking at individual tax rates or even the tax systems progressiveness. Sure, of what poor Americans earn, they might keep comparably more but that is of little use when illness costs them their job and many times their net worth - their companions in Germany, France and Sweden might pay a 40% tax rate but they are not paying out of pocket for healthcare.

hey, two problems I see with your post: a) taxation is no measure for (in-)equality, policy is - direct the money at the poor and it reduces inequality. the countries you mentioned do that, the US, not so much (see your very own link to the WaPo). b) yes, Paul Ryan has already proposed cutting programs benefiting the poor to tackle the self-inflicted rise of deficit caused by the tax cuts.

If taxation isn’t the problem, and the US tax system is more progressive than many European counterparts, why the hell lead with the tax reform point? If he had led with: we spend too much on middle class welfare and not enough on really poor people, as the WaPo article explains, he would’ve had a point.

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