The first is a segment interviewing wealthy individuals who want the government to raise their taxes. Though the piece makes the group, Wealth for the Common Good, sound new, it has actually been around since the end of 2008; in the quick pace of our crisis, that is an eon ago. The organization has three main initiatives: reversing most income tax cuts, instituting a more progressive estate tax, and closing offshore tax havens (though this part of their site is blank). Between it, the Wagner Club, and the Pigou Club (almost three years old), there seems to be an accelerating institutional movement, albeit still a slow one, towards smarter, higher taxes.
In a natural follow-up to the above story, MPR then asked its listeners and web-readers: “What would you be willing to pay higher taxes for?” (This is a leading question. It should have been, “Would you pay higher taxes? If so, for what?”) The story features six responses, five of which support higher taxes. Online, the story has received 38 comments, and the majority of respondents support higher taxes. The answers are what you’d expect from adults who care about quality of life for themselves and their brethren: better education, improved public transportation, better pay for emergency workers, nicer parks, universal health care, &c. In other words, it’s not just crazy Hollywood elites who want more taxes: an increasing number of normal Americans acknowledge the benefits of supporting the common good. Like with any good, you get what you pay for, and we’ve paid for an inferior product for a long time.
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