Taxes on the wealthy, even "socialism". These are arguments we can and will win. [View all]

[DanTex]

For way too long, "socialism" has been a bad word in American politics. I admit, I've been scared of it. But things are changing, finally. And, though I wasn't a Bernie supporter last primary season, he deserves a lot of credit for this. As does AOC, boldly calling for a 70% top marginal tax rate, and making media figures look like idiots for questioning her.

It's not just that a 70% tax rate starting at 10M polls overwhelmingly well. It's that it's really difficult for right-wingers or "centrists" to argue against it without looking like total idiots. $10M is a salary that virtually nobody will ever attain. Virtually nobody even realistically hopes to ever earn that much. I can't think of anyone I've ever met who earns that much (except maybe the time I "met" Tom Hanks).

It's also laughably illogical to argue that "the most productive people" will stop working Atlas Shrugged style if the income they earn over $10M is taxed that much. First, it's laughable to think that billionaires and multi-millionaires actually "produce" that wealth, rather than getting incredibly lucky in the capitalist poker game. But even for people who idolize Bill Gates and Jeff Bezos, does anyone actually think that Bezos, starting Amazon, would have thought, "you know, if everything goes right I will end up with $100 billion dollars, but with these higher tax rates, I only get to keep $50 billion. Meh, forget it, what's the point..."

On top of that, actual economic research (as opposed to right-wing think tank propaganda) supports much higher tax rates on the wealthy. As Paul Krugman has pointed out, peer-reviewed literature in Economics from the most highly reputed people in the field, including Nobel Prize winners, has concluded that the optimal top tax rate is indeed somewhere around 70%.

Finally, there is the fact that, among the young generations, socialism itself polls well, even better than capitalism. In theory, it shouldn't matter how "socialism" polls, because likening a 70% top marginal tax rate or investments in clean energy to a state-run economy is absurd on its face. But it's been that word (and "communism" ) that right-wingers have used for decades to keep down popular ideas like these.

Well, things are changing. It won't be immediate, but the overwhelming popularity of redistributive economic policies isn't going away. The more the Dems talk about it, the better. And they need to keep reminding people that those talking heads on TV scoffing at these ideas, all those people make millions a year, and are being paid by people who make tens and hundreds of millions a year.