As our democratic institutions face continued attack, pro-democracy advocates have proposed important and vital solutions: abolishing the filibuster, reforming the Supreme Court, expanding ballot access. While these are necessary steps to redemocratization, they fail to address one of the most important accelerants of authoritarianism: ever-growing economic inequality. As the ultra-wealthy and increasingly concentrated corporations amass more wealth—and use that wealth to buy political influence—the connection between economic inequality and authoritarianism deepens.
But economic inequality is a policy choice, and one that policy can also correct. On September 16, the Roosevelt Institute will convene a panel of experts to explore one critical policy tool in the fight for not only rebalancing economic power, but also restoring our democratic institutions: the tax code. While the tax code is seen by most as simply a way to raise revenue, it is also one of democracy’s most powerful and underutilized tools, one that can limit the ability of the ultra-wealthy to convert their fortunes into political power.
Our panelists will make the case that tax reform belongs at the center of the pro-democracy movement—and explore how reforming the tax code can rebalance both economic and political power, curb the influence of the ultra-wealthy and corporations, and restore public faith in government.
Register today to explore what a tax code that serves the many, not the few, could mean for our democracy.