Financial Transparency Coalition

What is "fair"? There are lots of different ways to see it. According to the Americans for Tax Fairness tax fairness means making corporations and wealthy individuals “pay their fair share.” For those at CATO, tax fairness is an Alternative Minimum Tax (or flat tax). Ultimately, though, tax fairness is a normative concept. It’s helpful, then, to consider what society as a whole considers fair. People’s opinions about this question matters, not only in a theoretical sense, but also because we want to maximize society’s happiness overall. To accomplish this, we need a tax system that aligns with society’s preferences. While people do...

In less than two weeks New Yorkers will head to the polls to replace Mayor Michael Bloomberg, who has hit his term limit. In the race, Bill de Blasio, the Democratic candidate, is the clear frontrunner over Republican Joe Lhota by 64 percent to 23 percent. To voters, the campaign has centered on the economy and jobs, public education, and affordable housing—issues which all relate to major concerns over New York’s rising income inequality. In New York City income inequality is a huge concern. In fact, according to the Census Bureau, the income gap in the City is higher than...

In recent years wealth among the wealthiest has increased. This trend is well-documented in the United States, where commentators have noted that since 1979, the rich have become richer and the poor have become (relative to the rich) poorer. Dubbed the “Great Divergence” by NY Times op-ed columnist Paul Krugman, this phenomenon may be both a driver and the result of tax policy and tax evasion in the United States. But America isn’t the only country vulnerable to these kinds of trends. In fact, evidence from recent years has suggested that these trends are at play in several emerging...