The Rise and Fall of Tax Reform

Last week, in the early hours of Saturday morning, the Republican Senate pushed through a convoluted 500-page tax bill. Called "reform" by Republicans and a "tax cut for the wealthy" by Democrats, the overhaul gives massive breaks to the top one percent and undercuts programs for the rest. It also increases the nation's deficit. Now, the Senate and House are negotiating a bill so that President Trump can deliver on his promise of tax reform by Christmas.

The bill came as a shock to some, but historian Molly Michelmore says this anti-tax frenzy has been a long time coming. In her book Tax and Spend: The Welfare State, Tax Politics, and the Limits of American Liberalism, Michelmore says that as long as we've had income tax, the ultra rich have tried to dismantle it, and the rest of the country have struggled to understand how we pay for entitlements. She talks with Brooke about how this misunderstanding of how the tax code works has made us into a country of reluctant taxpayers who vote against our own best interest.

Songs:

I Paid My Income Tax Today by Irving Berlin
With Plenty of Money and You by Hal Kemp and his Orchestra