Roosevelt Institute Policy Note Describes How Progressives Can Build Popular Support for New Taxes
New York, NY (PRWEB) July 01, 2013 -- For decades, political elites have assumed that Americans oppose higher taxes under all circumstances, but a new policy note from the Roosevelt Institute argues that progressives can change that narrative. In “Are Less Visible Taxes Really the Answer?” Roosevelt Institute | Pipeline Fellow Elizabeth Pearson makes the case that public opinion about taxation is malleable and that progressives should focus on raising awareness of the purpose of taxation and the benefits taxes will produce.
Drawing on extensive research, Pearson shows that “support for taxation is dependent on a wider range of political conditions ⎯ like the role of political elites, the information citizens have about a tax policy, and the sequencing of tax policymaking ⎯ and policymakers should not assume that some types of taxes automatically command more support than others."
Pearson traces anti-tax sentiment to the state-level revolts that began in the 1970s and notes that “the continuing resonance of anti-tax politics owes much to the political possibilities that the Republican Party saw in tax issues.” The research, in her words, shows that “Americans are susceptible to the ways taxes are designed ⎯ but most of all to how they are talked about and represented by politicians.” She recommends that “pro-tax” politicians and activists “work to develop a new vocabulary for talking about taxes that, for example, links revenue and investment” and “focus on providing Americans with better information about tax policies under debate.”
Elizabeth Pearson is a Roosevelt Institute | Pipeline Fellow and a Ph.D. candidate at the University of California-Berkeley, where her research analyzes the politics of tax reform in the post-war United States, with a particular focus on the overlooked histories of state-level fiscal policy. She is available for interviews. For more information, contact Tim Price at 212-444-9130 x 219 or tprice(at)rooseveltinstitute(dot)org.
About the Roosevelt Institute
The Roosevelt Institute is a nonprofit ideas and leadership organization dedicated to carrying forward the legacy and values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt by developing progressive initiatives and bold leadership in the service of restoring America’s promise of opportunity for all. The Institute works with world-class thought leaders in our Four Freedoms Center; the Campus Network and Pipeline programs work with thousands of Millennials to drive policy solutions at the local level; and the FDR Library maintains the Roosevelts’ legacy to redress inequality in our nation. Our major thought work is developing a “New Deal for the 21st Century” by focusing on economic and social policy. For more information visit us at http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org or follow us on Twitter @rooseveltinst.
Tim Price, Roosevelt Institute, http://www.rooseveltinstitute.org, 212-444-9130 219, [email protected]
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