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"The proposed tax reform package stakes out America’s bid to become the most unequal society in the world, and will greatly increase the already high levels of

"The proposed tax reform package stakes out America’s bid to become the most unequal society in the world, and will greatly increase the already high levels of wealth and income inequality between the richest 1% and the poorest 50% of Americans....It is against this background that my report is presented." It's interesting that he is a law professor (not an economics professor) and yet he stated this as if it were incontrovertible fact, with no facts to back up his prediction, and then went on to base much of the rest of his report on it. That statement may turn out to be true, and it may turn out to be false, but it is certainly not settled fact. It renders this entire report meaningless, as it is based on nothing more than speculation on the part of a clearly biased author about what the outcome of recent tax policy changes will be.

maxxxxx 9y ago
In what way is it controversial that the major beneficiaries of the tax reform will the richest parts of society? I thought that's pretty obvious.
- rayiner 9y ago
  It’s a very biased framing. Even with the changes, our tax system is more progressive than say France or Germany.
  - maxxxxx 9y ago
    "As noted in the World Inequality Report 2018, in both Europe and the US the top 1% of adults earned around 10% of national income in 1980. In Europe that has risen today to 12%, but in the US it has reached 20%." The tax reform will shift even more income to the top 1%. How is that biased framing?
    - dominotw 9y ago
      So I am looking up GINI. European countries have similar and sometimes higher( france, germany) GINI than USA. Over the years seems to have stayed constant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq...
      - maxxxxx 9y ago
        What data are you looking at on this page? I see the US way higher than either Germany or France. I am looking at "Gini coefficient, after taxes and transfers"
        dominotw 9y ago
        I was looking at " Gini coefficient, before taxes and transfers" but I think after taxes is more relevant like you pointed out.
  - ma2rten 9y ago
    "Overall, the American system remains the most progressive tax system in the developed world, whereas most social democracies like France, Germany and Sweden have actively regressive systems heavily reliant on value-added taxes. Then again, U.S. pay-outs aren't nearly as progressive, and so our government reduces inequality through taxes and transfers much less than peer countries." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/04/04/u-s-tax-code-isnt-as-progressive-as-you-think/?utm_term=.d07f6933338a https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/04/04/u-s-t...
WaylonKenning 9y ago
It's interesting that you're an Entrepreneur (not a Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights) and yet you've rendered this entire report meaningless, in-spite of all the additional body of evidence considered in the report.
- downandout 9y ago
  I read it. He presents no evidence that the recent tax reform has exacerbated the wealth gap. Of course, he couldn’t have, because the reforms were only recently passed, and thus it is not possible to know what the long-term outcome will be. By his own admission, he framed the entire report in light of his false statement of fact made at the beginning. So, while there are some interesting factual tidbits sprinkled throughout the report, any conclusions that it reaches based upon those facts are meaningless, because they are colored by the false statement of fact.
  - arcticbull 9y ago
    "stakes out America's bid" implies that this is intention and not result yet, so he's not claiming that it's happened yet.
- dominotw 9y ago
  Rest of his report is kind of strange also eg: * Neglected tropical diseases, including Zika, are increasingly common in the USA * > 424 symptomatic Zika virus disease cases reported* > 414 cases in travelers returning from affected areas > 4 cases acquired through presumed local mosquito-borne transmission in Florida (N=2) and Texas (N=2) > 6 cases acquired through sexual transmission There were ~10 cases were people got infected by zika while in united states. How is spending more money on public health going to prevent people getting infected while traveling to affected areas. https://www.cdc.gov/zika/reporting/2017-case-counts.html https://www.cdc.gov/zika/reporting/2017-case-counts.html
nodesocket 9y ago
Thank you for pointing this out. Everybody is a skeptic these days, quick to condemn, quick to blame, quick to be "right" by always being pessimistic. The tax reform bill thus far has proven to greatly improve US company profits and a plethora of companies have issued substantial bonuses to Americans (not just to executives). Repatriation is good for all Americans, no matter class, wealth, or political affiliation.
matthewmcg 9y ago
You're right that we aren't certain that changes in tax rates alone might increase inequality, but the author is also speaking about that the cuts to welfare programs and social services that will probably follow the tax bill. The sentence that you elided from your quotation is: "The dramatic cuts in welfare, foreshadowed by the President and Speaker Ryan, and already beginning to be implemented by the administration, will essentially shred crucial dimensions of a safety net that is already full of holes." This is more than mere speculation--this is what the Speaker is saying he wants to do[1]. This is an important part of the background for this analysis. [1]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/01/gop-eyes-post-tax-cut-changes-to-welfare-medicare-and-social-security/?utm_term=.5b2eef6aeaa3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/01/gop-e...
- downandout 9y ago
  We can argue all day about whether these cuts will come from efficiency-based savings (cutting out waste/fraud etc) or whether they will actually “shred crucial dimensions of a safety net already full of of holes,” but I don’t think anyone can argue against the fact that the way he phrased that shows his extreme political bias. Which, again, is a bad way to start off a supposedly fact-based report if you want anybody to pay attention to it.
  - nraynaud 9y ago
    As seen from an extreme right point of view, every reasonable position that is not deep conservative is seen as biased far to the left.
    - downandout 9y ago
      If you're referring to me, I'm actually somewhere in the middle. But I simply can't stand seeing political propaganda masquerading as legitimate news or facts - on either side of the aisle. So when I see such things, I'm going to point it out.
      - 9y ago
shkkmo 9y ago
> and then went on to base much of the rest of his report on it. The report is mostly based on statistics and the observations of the author. There is some discussion of tax reform later under "VI. Principal current governmental responses" but to claim that the author "went on to base much of the rest of his report on it" is disingenuous at best. Furthermore, I don't feel like this a controversial claim. Can you cite a single source that argues that the tax reform package will have no effect on income inequality or will reduce it? I was not able to find one (in my limited search). The best I can do is find arguments that income inequality doesn't matter (https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-11-30/liberal-criticism-of-the-gop-tax-plan-over-income-inequality-is-misplaced https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-11-30/liberal-c...)

maxxxxx 9y ago

In what way is it controversial that the major beneficiaries of the tax reform will the richest parts of society? I thought that's pretty obvious.

rayiner 9y ago
It’s a very biased framing. Even with the changes, our tax system is more progressive than say France or Germany.
- maxxxxx 9y ago
  "As noted in the World Inequality Report 2018, in both Europe and the US the top 1% of adults earned around 10% of national income in 1980. In Europe that has risen today to 12%, but in the US it has reached 20%." The tax reform will shift even more income to the top 1%. How is that biased framing?
  - dominotw 9y ago
    So I am looking up GINI. European countries have similar and sometimes higher( france, germany) GINI than USA. Over the years seems to have stayed constant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_eq...
    - maxxxxx 9y ago
      What data are you looking at on this page? I see the US way higher than either Germany or France. I am looking at "Gini coefficient, after taxes and transfers"
      - dominotw 9y ago
        I was looking at " Gini coefficient, before taxes and transfers" but I think after taxes is more relevant like you pointed out.
- ma2rten 9y ago
  "Overall, the American system remains the most progressive tax system in the developed world, whereas most social democracies like France, Germany and Sweden have actively regressive systems heavily reliant on value-added taxes. Then again, U.S. pay-outs aren't nearly as progressive, and so our government reduces inequality through taxes and transfers much less than peer countries." https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/04/04/u-s-tax-code-isnt-as-progressive-as-you-think/?utm_term=.d07f6933338a https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2013/04/04/u-s-t...

WaylonKenning 9y ago

It's interesting that you're an Entrepreneur (not a Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights) and yet you've rendered this entire report meaningless, in-spite of all the additional body of evidence considered in the report.

downandout 9y ago
I read it. He presents no evidence that the recent tax reform has exacerbated the wealth gap. Of course, he couldn’t have, because the reforms were only recently passed, and thus it is not possible to know what the long-term outcome will be. By his own admission, he framed the entire report in light of his false statement of fact made at the beginning. So, while there are some interesting factual tidbits sprinkled throughout the report, any conclusions that it reaches based upon those facts are meaningless, because they are colored by the false statement of fact.
- arcticbull 9y ago
  "stakes out America's bid" implies that this is intention and not result yet, so he's not claiming that it's happened yet.
dominotw 9y ago
Rest of his report is kind of strange also eg: * Neglected tropical diseases, including Zika, are increasingly common in the USA * > 424 symptomatic Zika virus disease cases reported* > 414 cases in travelers returning from affected areas > 4 cases acquired through presumed local mosquito-borne transmission in Florida (N=2) and Texas (N=2) > 6 cases acquired through sexual transmission There were ~10 cases were people got infected by zika while in united states. How is spending more money on public health going to prevent people getting infected while traveling to affected areas. https://www.cdc.gov/zika/reporting/2017-case-counts.html https://www.cdc.gov/zika/reporting/2017-case-counts.html

nodesocket 9y ago

Thank you for pointing this out. Everybody is a skeptic these days, quick to condemn, quick to blame, quick to be "right" by always being pessimistic. The tax reform bill thus far has proven to greatly improve US company profits and a plethora of companies have issued substantial bonuses to Americans (not just to executives). Repatriation is good for all Americans, no matter class, wealth, or political affiliation.

matthewmcg 9y ago

You're right that we aren't certain that changes in tax rates alone might increase inequality, but the author is also speaking about that the cuts to welfare programs and social services that will probably follow the tax bill. The sentence that you elided from your quotation is: "The dramatic cuts in welfare, foreshadowed by the President and Speaker Ryan, and already beginning to be implemented by the administration, will essentially shred crucial dimensions of a safety net that is already full of holes." This is more than mere speculation--this is what the Speaker is saying he wants to do[1]. This is an important part of the background for this analysis. [1]https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/01/gop-eyes-post-tax-cut-changes-to-welfare-medicare-and-social-security/?utm_term=.5b2eef6aeaa3 https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2017/12/01/gop-e...

downandout 9y ago
We can argue all day about whether these cuts will come from efficiency-based savings (cutting out waste/fraud etc) or whether they will actually “shred crucial dimensions of a safety net already full of of holes,” but I don’t think anyone can argue against the fact that the way he phrased that shows his extreme political bias. Which, again, is a bad way to start off a supposedly fact-based report if you want anybody to pay attention to it.
- nraynaud 9y ago
  As seen from an extreme right point of view, every reasonable position that is not deep conservative is seen as biased far to the left.
  - downandout 9y ago
    If you're referring to me, I'm actually somewhere in the middle. But I simply can't stand seeing political propaganda masquerading as legitimate news or facts - on either side of the aisle. So when I see such things, I'm going to point it out.
    - 9y ago

shkkmo 9y ago

> and then went on to base much of the rest of his report on it. The report is mostly based on statistics and the observations of the author. There is some discussion of tax reform later under "VI. Principal current governmental responses" but to claim that the author "went on to base much of the rest of his report on it" is disingenuous at best. Furthermore, I don't feel like this a controversial claim. Can you cite a single source that argues that the tax reform package will have no effect on income inequality or will reduce it? I was not able to find one (in my limited search). The best I can do is find arguments that income inequality doesn't matter (https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-11-30/liberal-criticism-of-the-gop-tax-plan-over-income-inequality-is-misplaced https://www.usnews.com/opinion/articles/2017-11-30/liberal-c...)