"An old English judge once said: 'Necessitous men are not free men.' Liberty requires opportunity to make a living - a living decent according to the standard of the time, a living which gives man not only enough to live by, but something to live for. For too many of us the political equality we once had won was meaningless in the face of economic inequality. A small group had concentrated into their own hands an almost complete control over other people's property, other people's money, other people's labor - other people's lives. For too many of us life was no longer free; liberty no longer real; men could no longer follow the pursuit of happiness."
--President Franklin Roosevelt, "Acceptance Speech for the Renomination for the Presidency, Philadelphia, Pa.," June 27, 1936.
Above: "Chain Gang," an artwork by Herbert Alvin Sharpe (1910-1982), created while he was in the WPA's Federal Art Project, 1938. Image from the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Regressive Taxation on a Captive Population
San Francisco Democrats have voted not to endorse the proposed billionaire tax in California, although they (might) back the concept of a national wealth tax. Their rationale is that investment might move away, especially from the San Francisco area (and of course, some San Francisco Democrats eat at billionaire supper table). This fear comes from the long-standing threat that many rich and powerful Americans make when they're asked to pay more in taxes to help fund infrastructure or social programs. The rich and powerful are essentially saying, "Yes, our wealth-hoarding is occurring alongside massive social problems and crumbling infrastructure, but if you attempt to curtail our wealth-hoarding we'll move and make things even worse for you."
Meanwhile, Governor Gavin Newsom (who also opposes the California billionaire tax, and for the same reason) has signed legislation allowing sales taxes--a form of taxation that disproportionately affects the working-class--to greatly increase.
All of this is a great example of a decades-long trend of lowering taxes on the rich and raising them on the working-class - the latter through regressive taxes, tolls, fees, fines, and other revenue mechanisms (see, for example, "The Changing Landscape of State Tax Rates" (7-21-2026) and "Who Pays? 7th Edition" (Jan. 2024), Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy). The Trump Administration has recently proposed accelerating this trend, making one wonder: How in the world can working-class Americans support this? - and yet they do, knowingly or unknowingly, by the tens of millions.
It must be emphasized that the modern neoliberal Democratic Party has pummeled the working-class too (it's not just a Republican thing), e.g., making Medicaid Estate Recovery more ruthless, allowing Social Security to be garnished, sending good-paying American jobs overseas with false promises of prosperity, and making it harder for private student loans to be discharged in bankruptcy. To a large degree, voters are stuck between one bad alternative and another. (Hint: Only progressivism and another New Deal can rejuvenate the working-class... just as it created the strongest working-class to begin with.)
This decades-long and ongoing switch from progressive taxation on the wealthy to regressive taxation on the working-class is possible for one major reason: The working-class cannot easily move, or even move at all. They are tied to their jobs and/or do not have the funds to relocate. Heck, most Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency, let alone the massive costs associated with moving - which can include moving services or rental vans; hotel, gas, and food; first month's rent plus security deposit at the new location; and the ability to pay one's bills, e.g., credit cards and car payments, during the interval between the old job and the new job (and heaven forbid if something happens with the new job after you've moved, then you're really in trouble).
In sum, the rich and powerful can move fairly easily, if they want to. But the working-class, by and large, is a captive population and can't credibly issue a similar threat, for example, "If you raise my sales taxes, I'm moving!" The answer to this imbalance of power is to tax the rich more at the federal level; then increase federal aid to the states and locals (which, outside of certain healthcare programs, has been stagnant or dropping for decades); begin reducing regressive revenue burdens; and finally, charge a hefty exit tax on any billionaires leaving the country after they've earned their billions with the aid of publicly-funded infrastructure, education, legal systems, and research. Call it, "Billionaire Estate Recovery."
Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the majority of working-class Americans are even aware of what's going on, let alone have the gumption to fight back. Instead, we are likely to continue the political ping-pong game of neoliberal Democrats (who disappoint) back to Republicans (who disappoint) back to neoliberal Democrats (who disappoint again), and on and on we go. For half-a-century now, voters have kept voting for the same type of people--the wealthy backed by the super-wealthy--and expected different results. Isn't that the definition of insanity? (FDR was wealthy too, but life experiences made him shun greed and selfishness, which is why he was considered a traitor to his class.)
It seems to me that the majority of working-class Americans are willing to tolerate any amount of economic pain, if that's what it takes to avoid what made America great in the first place - progressivism and the New Deal (think unions, Social Security, FDIC, limitations on stock buybacks, rural electrification, more education facilities, infrastructure for the economy to expand along, and so on).
Higher prices? "Fine!" Unaffordable healthcare? "No problem!" Inability to afford a home? "Aw shucks, who needs a home?" Stagnant wages for decades? "Sir, yes sir!" No chance at retirement? "I'll dutifully work 'til I drop!" Reduced social and economic mobility? "Yay for the caste system!" Higher taxes on me and lower taxes on millionaires & billionaires? "Sounds good!" But progressivism?... of the type that created the greatest American middle-class we've ever seen? "Oh God, no! That would be terrible!! How would we thrive, as we aren't now?"
I'm being a bit facetious of course, but damn, how many more years (or decades) of economic torture is it going take before the vast majority of the working-class--not just 51.7%--say: "Enough of this neoliberal and billionaire bullshit, we demand another New Deal!"
"When it came to taxes, Roosevelt simply believed that rich people should pay more than poor people. And in emergencies, they should pay a lot more... Roosevelt never wavered... Roosevelt came out firmly against the sales tax in all its forms. Time and again, when asked by reporters to reconsider his position, the president stood firm..."
--Joseph J. Thorndike, Their Fair Share: Taxing the Rich in the Age of FDR, Washington, DC: Urban Institute Press, 2013, pp. 45 and 240.
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