Low-Income Families Diving Off the Fiscal Cliff

The two most important pieces of the 2001-2011 tax cuts for low-income families were the reduced refundability threshold of the Child Tax Credit (CTC) and the 2 percentage point cut in payroll taxes. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA) extended the former for 5 years and dropped the latter entirely. This, in sharp [...]

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic

Owning Is Not More Productive Than Working

We have yet to have an open discussion in America about the preferential tax treatment given to the ownership class. They’re not “job creators”, a meme the 1% is desperately trying to rehabilitate, so we can no longer afford to protect them with the enforced decorum of not asking the obvious questions of fairness.

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic

Most Republican Tax Plans Eliminate the Thread of Safety Net That’s Left Today

The tax system provides substantial assistance for workers – and, outside of Social Security, provides the largest platform for redistribution we have in the U.S. Although the tax system leaves out huge swaths of people – which I’ll discuss in future posts – for the people it targets money towards, it can do it relatively [...]

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic

Weekend News Jog

Coverage of important stories over the weekend.

Political Context - The Progressive Mosaic