We reproduce this letter from today’s New York Times because it was written by Felicia Wong of the Roosevelt Institute whom you will recall we featured in an August 5 blog entitled “Could Hillary Clinton Become the Champion of the 99 Percent?”
And because it forcefully makes the point that only by increasing taxes on the rich of this country will we ever achieve equitable wealth distribution, full employment and a healthy economy.
Felicia Wong of the Roosevelt Institute
David Malpass, one of Donald Trump’s economic advisers, claims that Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations would “create a flood of new business investments and jobs.”
Voters should not be fooled into believing that this is a new idea: It’s the same old failed “trickle-down” economics.
Experts project that Mr. Trump’s plan would cost nearly $10 trillion over the next decade, but we can already see how misguided it is.
Since the late 1970s, these kinds of tax cuts have led to economic failure, including four significant downturns, and increased inequality, concentrating our limited growth at the top.
We know we can do better if we rewrite the rules of our economy. As Joseph Stiglitz, chief economist for the Roosevelt Institute and a Nobel laureate, has shown, targeted tax increases would reduce gains at the top without harming growth.
This would allow us to raise wages, create jobs and invest in our future.
FELICIA WONG
President and Chief Executive
Roosevelt Institute
New York
