Where Does $2 Trillion In Subsidies For The Wealthiest Hide In Plain Sight?

Research shows that government subsidies for the 1 percent are creating greater inequality. A new white paper by Roosevelt Institute Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz offers solutions.

 "What's the effective rate I've been paying? It's probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything." Mitt Romney made national news with that statement during the 2012 presidential election, since it meant he paid a lower effective tax rate than many middle-class Americans. The simple reason for his low tax bill? The tax code's special treatment of investment income.

In a recent report published by the Center for American Progress, I examine how government subsidies for investment income are making economic inequality worse. The merits of subsidizing investment income are particularly questionable in light of new research published by renowned French economist Thomas Piketty in Capital in the Twenty-First Century. Piketty finds that economic inequality has increased dramatically in recent decades, and will get even worse as the rate of return on capital from investments largely owned by the wealthy exceeds the overall growth rate of the economy.

Nobel-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, Chief Economist at the Roosevelt Institute, takes a hard look at subsidies for investment income in a new white paper on tax reform. Stiglitz advocates taxing capital gains and dividends at the same rates as ordinary income. Under current law, the federal government will deliver an estimated $1.34 trillion in subsidies to investors over the next 10 years in the form of reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends...