yeah, so what happened is that in 2018 for the first time over the last 100 years the very rich have paid less in taxes than the working class and the middle class. they paid 23%. and the working class and middle class they pay 25%, 30% in consumption taxes, payroll taxes, individual income taxes, everything included. so that s the injustice we re talking about in the book. even as they grow richer, americans have seen their tax rates collapse. because there is a long tradition of tax justice and tax progressivety in the u.s. we ve created theories that go all the way back to 1913, theories about the effective tax rate paid by each group of the population. and we found that the rich in the middle of the 20th century from 1930s to 1980s, they paid 50%, 60% of their income. so down from 60% to 23% today. critics would call that
president obama said about this earlier today. the guy s 90 some percent among democrats. the most successful progressive prolific president who had an incredible chief of staff, let me just say that, since the great society. what are they doing? every element of progressivety, from literally ted roosevelt to franklin roosevelt to the great society and forward builds on the progress of generations before for generations to come. this is nuts. dana: other former obama supporters and staffers saying they think the same. here was eric holder saying to my fellow democrats be weary of attacking the obama record. there is little to be gained by attacking a successful and still popular democratic president. johanna, let me go with you first because you were there during the obama years. i know what it s like to go through a republican primary. it s interesting to watch the
child credit, you are taking a lot of people off the rolls, the income tax rolls, that you may never ever get down any lower than what it is now if you don t go any lower now. yeah, look, it s very hard to predict the political future. i think there is some risk of that; right? what happens whenever the democrats change the tax code, they make it more progressive and then republicans leave it with the progressivety it had before or sometimes go even further in that direction. right. i do think that s a problem. it is a one way ratchet, it seems. although i think that with republicans in control of the government, we can make a perfectly legitimate argument for across the board percentage reduction in rates and that would of course help everybody, and i hope that will always remain a possibility. okay. all right. a couple of other contentious issues, one the death tax, house repealed it after five years. you don t. senate going to prevail on that? too early to say. you know, i
lot of people off the rolls, the income tax rolls, that you may never ever get down any lower than what it is now if you don t go any lower now. yeah, look, it s very hard to predict the political future. i think there is some risk of that; right? what happens whenever the democrats change the tax code, they make it more progressive and then republicans leave it with the progressivety it had before or sometimes go even further in that direction. right. i do think that s a problem. it is a one way ratchet, it seems. although i think that with republicans in control of the government, we can make a perfectly legitimate argument for across the board percentage reduction in rates and that would of course help everybody, and i hope that will always remain a possibility. okay. all right. a couple of other contentious issues, one the death tax, house repealed it after five years. you don t. senate going to prevail on that? too early to say. you know, it is one of the moving pieces.
synced up on this, we want to deliver tax cuts to middle income families. we ll get that through a doubling of the standard deduction, an expanded child tax credit. middle income americans need to keep more of what they earn. they deserve bigger paychecks. that s what this is about. we want to make sure that businesses get tax relief. they create the jobs. if you get a growing economy, a pro growth tax code, you ll see better paying jobs and raising wages and studies that show that. the final decision is about where the rates are, who the beneficiaries of the rates are, is still being decided. we re having conversations in the finance committee. it s important to maintain progressivety in the code and the heart and soul of this effort is middle income families that deserve a break. neil: do you feel your republican colleagues are try too hard to win votes by doing