US Wealth Gap Report Fuels Call to 'Unrig Our Tax Code'
Jessica Corbett for Common Dreams
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Whitehouse (D-R.I.) sought the Congressional Budget Office
(CBO) report, which details trends in the distribution of family
wealth—including projected Social Security retirement and disability
benefits—in the United States from 1989 to 2022.
"Adjusted for inflation, the wealth held by families in the United States almost quadrupled between 1989 and 2022, rising from $52 trillion (in 2022 dollars) to $199 trillion, at an average rate of about 4% per year," the CBO found. "Over that 33-year period, family wealth was unevenly distributed, and that inequality increased."
"In 2022, families in the top 10% of the distribution
held 60% of all wealth, up from 56% in 1989, and families in the top 1% of the
distribution held 27%, up from 23% in 1989," the office said. "The
share of wealth held by the rest of the families in the top half of the
distribution shrank from 37% to 33% over the same period. Families in the
bottom half of the distribution held 6% of all wealth in both 1989 and
2022."
"By making the wealthy pay their fair share, we
can protect Social Security forever and unrig our tax code."
The report comes as Congress prepares for a tax debate due
to next year's expiration of policies signed into law
in 2017 by then-President Donald
Trump, the Republican facing Democratic Vice President Kamala
Harris in this November's election.
Throughout the current election cycle, Trump and
congressional Republicans have campaigned on
extending policies from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which slashed the corporate
tax rate from 35% to 21% and also benefited wealthy individuals.
"This report should add urgency in Congress as the
Trump tax scam expires next year and we negotiate future tax legislation,"
Whitehouse said of the CBO analysis. "Do we want to reward billionaires,
who have already captured so much of the nation's wealth, or do we want to
de-corrupt the tax code, ensure the wealthy and big corporations pay their fair
share, and reduce the deficit, all while making necessary investments to better
the lives of all Americans?"
Whitehouse noted that the report also comes amid concerns
about the future of Social Security. Citing the CBO analysis, his office
detailed:
- Social
Security is essential to the retirement security of low middle- and
lower-income families: Without this earned benefits program, the bottom
half of families would hold just 3% of overall wealth, while the top 10%
of families would control nearly 70%.
- If
Social Security were allowed to go insolvent, families in the bottom half
of the wealth distribution would lose 10% of their wealth, while the
wealth of the top 1% of families would be essentially unchanged.
"Social Security is a bedrock of our retirement system
and ensures millions of seniors can retire with dignity," Whitehouse said.
"Seniors earned their benefits throughout their working lives, but the
program is now facing a looming cash flow problem. By making the wealthy pay
their fair share, we can protect Social Security forever and unrig our tax
code—exactly what my Medicare and Social Security Fair Share Act would
do."
Whitehouse's bill is spearheaded in the lower chamber by
U.S. House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), who also
recently requested a CBO
report. That one focuses on the impact of raising the full retirement age for
Social Security from 67 to 69, as various Republican groups have proposed.
The CBO's Social Security analysis, released last week,
found that for workers now in their 30s and 40s, the average annual benefit cut
would be around $3,500 a year—and the GOP's proposed changes wouldn't even
extend the program's solvency.
"This independent, nonpartisan report shows just how
devastating Republican plans to rip away hard-earned Social Security benefits
would be for American workers," Boyle said last week. "Instead of
saving Social Security by making the ultrarich pay their fair share, the GOP is
hell-bent on gutting benefits for the middle class."