Bordoff & Furman: Progressive Tax Reform in the Era of Globalization

Jason Bordoff (Policy Director, The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution) & Jason Furman (Director, The Hamilton Project, Brookings Institution) have published Progressive Tax Reform in the Era of Globalization: Building Consensus for More Broadly Shared Prosperity, 2 Harv. L. & Pol'y Rev. 327 (2008).  Here is the Conclusion:

In the past several decades, except for the latter half of the 1990s, the gains of our nation’s growing prosperity have not been broadly shared but have rather accrued largely to those at the very top. Indeed, for the first time in our nation’s history, we risk breaking that quintessential American promise that with hard work and education, each generation will have the opportunity to do better than the one that came before it. A consequence of the lack of broadly-shared growth has been an increasing protectionist backlash against global economic integration, which threatens to compound the problem. Openness to the global economy ultimately enhances economic growth, which is a prerequisite to raising living standards for American families. The relationship between rising inequality and protectionism magnifies what is at stake in trying to effect policies to secure more broad-based growth, but also presents a unique opportunity to build a consensus to do so. Along with other policies to expand social insurance programs and shore up the social safety net, at the core of any such collaborative effort should be progressive income tax reform. Progressive taxation is an effective, efficient, and near-term policy response to share the gains of America’s prosperity more widely and thereby preserve support for global economic integration policies that will promote even greater prosperity in the years to come.