Daily Digest – January 26: Taxing for the Common Good
January 26, 2015
Obama Declares Recovery of American Economy (UP with Steve Kornacki)
Roosevelt Institute Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz discusses the tax proposals in the State of the Union address, and explains where they could have done more to promote prosperity.
- Roosevelt Take: Read Stiglitz’s suggestions for reforming the U.S. tax code in his 2014 white paper, “Reforming Taxation to Promote Growth and Equity.”
McDonalds Workers File Civil Rights Lawsuit (NOW with Alex Wagner)
Roosevelt Institute Fellow Dorian Warren, Friday’s guest host, ties this new racial discrimination case to broader patterns of poor labor practices at McDonald’s.
Why Obama Took the Lead on High-Speed Internet Access Policy (Medium)
Roosevelt Institute Fellow Susan Crawford says the president’s take on Internet access has shifted to better align with his discussion of middle-class economics.
Report: Fast Food Industry Could Survive $15 Minimum Wage (AJAM)
A new report from economists at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst explains how fast food companies could maintain their profit margin while raising wages, writes Ned Resnikoff.
Why Wealthy Americans’ Delusions About the Poor Are So Dangerous (Salon)
David Sirota says that reliance on regressive tax policies, such as sales taxes instead of state income taxes, are harming state economies by giving poor families higher effective tax rates than rich ones.
Middle Class Shrinks Further as More Fall Out Instead of Climbing Up (NYT)
Dionne Searcey and Robert Gebeloff examine the data on the shrinking middle class, noting that only in recent decades has the middle class shrunk because people were moving down the ladder.
New on Next New Deal
Roosevelt Reacts: What Else Did We Need from the 2015 State of the Union?
Roosevelt Network students and alumni respond to the State of the Union address, with a particular focus on what the president left out or could have taken further.