Michael Linden Profile picture
Econ and budget wonk. Formerly @ombpress @Groundwork, @RooseveltInst, @amprog, @senatebudget, @HELPCmteDems. Personal account, opinions my own.
Jan 31, 2019 14 tweets 3 min read
How much money could we raise just from taxing rich people's income?

This is a question that we'll hear a lot about over the coming years.

The answer is: a lot!.

To the thread!! To start with, the richest 5 percent of households will take home roughly $42 trillion in after-tax income over the next 10 years.

Of that, the richest 1 percent take home 22 trillion.

The richest 0.1 percent take home 11 trillion.
Jan 4, 2019 10 tweets 6 min read
A quick thread on the economics of a much higher top rate for the super-rich.

TL;DR version is that @AOC is on very solid ground here.

There is a lot of evidence that from an economic and fiscal perspective, we'd be way better off with top rates approaching 70. @AOC Starting with the basic fiscal implications, the best and most recent research suggests that rates around 70 percent for top earners will raise the most revenue. At 37% currently, we are leaving a lot of $$ on the table.

Diamond and Saez on this: pubs.aeaweb.org/doi/pdfplus/10…
Oct 28, 2018 6 tweets 1 min read
Reflecting on a really terrible day, I find myself thinking about the "Prayer for Our Country."

It's a prayer that many Jewish congregations like Tree of Life would recite every Shabbat morning. I myself recited it many times at Tree of Life growing up.

It goes: Our God and God of our ancestors: We ask Your blessings for our country - for its government, for its leaders and advisors, and for all who exercise just and rightful authority.
May 24, 2018 12 tweets 3 min read
Professor @DarrickHamilton & I have a new issue brief today detailing 4 specific ways that the Trump tax law affects communities of color. Like the economy in general, the new law puts black and brown people at a disadvantage.

rooseveltinstitute.org/hidden-rules-n…

Short thread to follow. 1/ First & perhaps most obviously, most people know that the law is skewed to the rich. Because of longstanding racial income gaps, a tax law that benefits the very high-income over everyone else also disproportionately benefits white households over households of color. 2/
Dec 18, 2017 18 tweets 5 min read
By now, most Americans know this tax bill is terrible. We know it's unfair, it's a giveaway to the rich, it cuts health care & puts other services at risk.

What hasn’t sunk in yet is how it could also harm the economy, costing jobs and prosperity.

I count at least 5 ways. 1/ First and most directly, by cutting taxes on the super-rich and asking everyone else to pick up the tab, this bill will exacerbate our already sky-high levels of income inequality, as @DLeonhardt correctly points out. 2/
nytimes.com/2017/12/17/opi…
Dec 10, 2017 14 tweets 4 min read
This coming week is make-or-break for the GOP tax scam. If you have any interest in fighting this disastrous bill, follow along for a state-of-play update. Short version: we CAN still stop this thing. 1/ Here’s where we are: Both the Senate & House have passed versions of the GOP tax scam. They have a lot in common (huge tax cuts for the wealthy & corporations, tax hikes on millions of middle class families) but aren’t identical. 2/
Nov 20, 2017 11 tweets 3 min read
New analysis out TODAY shows that the Senate GOP tax bill would raise taxes on half of all families.

But, really, it's even worse than that. Once you include the spending-side changes, the bill looks even worse. THREAD TIME. 1/
rooseveltinstitute.org/who-really-pay… The Senate tax bill doesn't only change taxes, it has also has big changes to spending, including cuts to Medicaid, Medicare, and lots of other things. A full distributional analysis would include those cuts too. 2/
Nov 12, 2017 12 tweets 2 min read
HEADS UP: Here are 10 things I’ll bet you didn’t know about the GOP tax scam, but that should get you super angry when you find out: 1) GOP tax scam cuts Medicare! Yup, it does. By $28 billion NEXT YEAR alone.
Nov 12, 2017 11 tweets 3 min read
RED ALERT: The Trump tax bill being rammed through Congress right now is confusing so let me break down what it’ll mean for you. Spoiler: You’ll get stuck with the bill. Follow along for details. 1/ YOUR TAX BILL

47 million households will get a tax hike! Yes, you read that right. In a plan that cuts taxes for corporations and millionaires, millions of middle-class families—especially those with children—get a tax increase. 2/
Nov 6, 2017 12 tweets 1 min read
The GOP tax plan gives more than $530 billion in tax breaks to the richest 1%. Here are some other things we could do with that money. 1/ We could insure over 10 million additional adults through Medicaid each year for the next 10 years. 2/
Nov 2, 2017 10 tweets 1 min read
Every major problem in the GOP tax bill stems from one original sin: promising corporations a massive tax rate cut worth $2 trillion. 1/ A) There are a lot of very rich business owners (like Trump himself) who deliberately avoid corporate taxes. They wanted a tax cut too. 2/
May 23, 2017 13 tweets 2 min read
A short thread using MATH to show how bonkers Trump's budget is on the tax side. Get your calculators out... 1/ So, a few weeks ago, Trump released a bunch of tax proposals (mostly tax cuts aimed at rich people) similar to his campaign tax plan. 2/