For the economy to grow, it has to be fair
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Robert Reich Guest blogger
One of the most pernicious falsehoods you鈥檒l hear during the next seven months of political campaigning is there鈥檚 a necessary tradeoff between fairness and economic growth. By this view, if we raise taxes on the wealthy the economy can鈥檛 grow as fast.
Wrong. Taxes were far higher on top incomes in the three decades after World War II than they鈥檝e been since. And the distribution of income was far more equal. Yet the American economy grew faster in those years than it鈥檚 grown since tax rates on the top were slashed in 1981.
This wasn鈥檛 a post-war aberration. Bill Clinton raised taxes on the wealthy in the 1990s, and the economy produced faster job growth and higher wages than it did after George W. Bush slashed taxes on the rich in his first term.
If you need more evidence, consider modern Germany, where taxes on the wealthy are much higher than they are here and the distribution of income is far more equal. But Germany鈥檚 average annual growth has been faster than that in the United States.
You see, higher taxes on the wealthy can finance more investments in infrastructure, education, and health care 鈥� which are vital to a productive workforce and to the economic prospects of the middle class.聽
Higher taxes on the wealthy also allow for lower taxes on the middle 鈥� potentially restoring enough middle-class purchasing power to keep the economy growing. As we鈥檝e seen in recent years, when disposable income is concentrated at the top, the middle class doesn鈥檛 have enough money to boost the economy.
Finally, concentrated wealth can lead to speculative bubbles as the rich in the same limited class of assets 鈥� whether gold, dotcoms, or real estate. And when these bubbles pop the entire economy suffers.
What we should have learned over the last half century is that growth doesn鈥檛 trickle down from the top. It percolates upward from working people who are adequately educated, healthy, sufficiently rewarded, and who feel they have a fair chance to make it in America.
Fairness isn鈥檛 incompatible with growth. It鈥檚 necessary for it.聽
