There’s a famous adage, often attributed to Ben Franklin (though it predates him): There are two certainties in life, death and taxes. But anti-tax mania is spreading. Policymakers on both sides of the aisle are floating tax exemptions for every group you can imagine: Tipped workers, YOU get a tax break! Teachers, YOU get a tax break! Overtime workers, YOU get a tax break! In my recent guest essay, I push against the Oprah-fication of the tax code. I believe that to build the type of country we want — one capable of improving our infrastructure, supporting our workers as we deal with the labor market transition resulting from artificial intelligence, and educating our children — we need more tax revenue, not less. Anti-tax fervor is gripping the nation in part because we are failing to build that type of society: Our tax dollars are ultimately an investment in the government, and there is widespread belief that the investment isn’t paying off as it should. It is also fundamentally unfair that we have a two-tiered tax system, in which everyday Americans, with regular jobs, pay in automatically, but those at the very top benefit from a host of loopholes and preferences that often mean their wealth is never taxed. I understand the frustration. But I believe we need to reform the tax system so that more Americans pay their fair share, rather than fewer. I hope policymakers will offer a vision of America that we can all rally behind, rather than racing to the bottom to offer tax cuts that are a Band-Aid for our affordability problems, not a real solution.
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