Barbara Ehrenreich: Tax Reform To Rich
on Sunday, November 19, 2017Barbara Ehrenreich Money Quote saying that we should eliminate the IRS as tax middleman and require the poor to hand over cash to the rich person of their choice. Barbara Ehrenreich said:
“Instead of tax reform, why not just require every poor and middle class person to send a check for, say, $1000 to their favorite rich person” — Barbara Ehrenreich
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In this quote, Barbara Ehrenreich is making a sarcastic critique of regressive tax policies that disproportionately benefit the wealthy. By facetiously suggesting the poor and middle class should directly send money to rich people instead of tax reform, Ehrenreich implies current tax laws already have this effect.
Her point is that rather than meaningful reform, the existing system transfers wealth from ordinary citizens upwards through mechanisms like loopholes and disproportionate tax breaks for the rich. The overall interpretation is that Ehrenreich views the tax code as essentially requiring lower and middle income people to subsidize the wealthy, and sees her comment as wryly reflecting this reality through an absurd proposal to just cut out the middleman of government policy.
The quote aims to provoke consideration of whether tax laws should more equitably distribute fiscal responsibility across all classes instead of further advantaging the monied elite.