Talk Policy To Me

Who benefits most from the tax system? What did the Trump tax cuts achieve? How do taxes affect inequality? What’s the relationship between taxes and democracy? Tax policy seems like it was designed by, of, and for the rich. But, as our guest today Gabriel Zucman points out, the U.S. tax code was once a vastly different beast. Zucman is an associate professor of economics at UC Berkeley, director of the Center on Wealth and Income Inequality, and economic advisor for two 2020 presidential campaigns. His latest book The Triumph of Injustice: How the Rich Dodge Taxes and How to Make them Pay, co-written with UC Berkeley economist Emmanuel Saez, documents the dramatic transformation of the U.S. tax code. In less than a lifetime, Americans exchanged the most progressive tax system in the world—a tax system with marginal income tax rates as high as 94 percent for the highest earners—for one where the 400 wealthiest members of society pay a lower tax rate than any other income group. Zucman’s work is clear. "Tax do