In a study that shocks absolutely no progressive but is nonetheless important, we once again have evidence that Reagonimics benefits the rich more than anyone else. In this case, the paper comes to us from researchers out of the London School of Economics and King’s College of London, where data that spanned a period of 50 years suggests that tax cuts for the wealthy simply spurred inequality without significant help for anyone else, including little job growth. This sort of study is always relevant, but especially as we continue to face the novel coronavirus pandemic with meager relief from our federal government. The data does end in 2015, so it does not actually include the coronavirus, but the big-picture message still stands: It’s perfectly fine to tax the rich, because not taxing them doesn’t actually help anyone else anyway.
David Hope of the London School of Economics shared the same sentiment in an interview with Bloomberg, though phrased a bit more diplomatically. “Policy makers shouldn’t worry that raising taxes on the rich to fund the financial costs of the pandemic will harm their economies,” Hope told the news outlet. In fact, according to their studies, he added to Bloomberg, policies that disproportionately help the rich actually “don’t deliver the sort of trickle-down effects that proponents have claimed.” Bingo.
As reported by The Washington Post, nearly 8 million Americans have dropped into poverty since last summer alone. Photos of long, long lines waiting for food pantries have gone viral, small businesses have faced day after day of precarious survival, and gig and service workers often have to choose between potentially unsafe conditions and making ends meet. Who does this impact? Certainly not the super wealthy.
A number of people took to Twitter to share the study and affirm what many of us already believe: helping the rich helps the rich, but it does not “trickle” down to the rest of us. And that’s a big problem.
Source: Daily Kos
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