[I’ll take the sentiments from both Oliver Anthony and Billy
Bragg to honor working class narratives, channel feelings of
disempowerment, and push for a more economically just country.
Starting with better taxing rich men, wherever they live.]
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HOW TO BETTER TAX THE RICH MEN NORTH (AND SOUTH) OF RICHMOND  
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Amy Hanauer
August 30, 2023
The Hill
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_ I’ll take the sentiments from both Oliver Anthony and Billy Bragg
to honor working class narratives, channel feelings of disempowerment,
and push for a more economically just country. Starting with better
taxing rich men, wherever they live. _

Oliver Anthony, screen grab

 

Oliver Anthony’s smash country hit “Rich Men North of Richmond
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entire story arc in just a few weeks. When conservatives heard the
song’s anger, apparent ire toward northerners, and lyrics punching
down at people on welfare, some lauded it as an anthem for our times
— helping send it to the top of the Billboard charts, and inspiring
Fox News to reference it in the first question
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last week’s Republican presidential debate.

But Anthony changed the narrative late last week by saying
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song at the presidential debate ’cause it’s like, I wrote that
song about those people.” He also tweeted
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Don’t. Support. Either. Side. Politically. Not the left, not the
right. I’m about supporting people and restoring local
communities.”

Fair enough. Let’s leave the song, particularly the parts about
welfare and obesity, behind. But lines like “I’ve been sellin’
my soul, workin’ all day, overtime hours for bullshit pay” and
“your dollar ain’t shit and it’s taxed to no end ’cause of
rich men north of Richmond” strike a truthful chord. For those of us
at the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy
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much working (and poor) people are taxed compared to rich men north
(and south) of Richmond, it’s hard not to take this as a jumping off
point to amplify some important facts.

In Virginia, where Anthony is from, middle-class, working-class and
poor families all pay a larger share of their income
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households in Virginia’s top 1 percent. That’s because the state
relies more on sales taxes, which poor and working families
disproportionately shoulder, and less on income taxes that better
target the rich. Virginia lawmakers also let multinational
corporations stash their earnings in tax havens to avoid state taxes,
something local businesses can’t get away with. The tax laws in most
other states create the same problems.

There is a better way. While Gov. Glenn Youngkin 
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high-income and business tax cuts, some Virginians are trying to
increase
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the wealthiest pay and redirect resources toward families with
children. And some states, like Minnesota
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already have a system that does more for kids and communities by
taxing rich people and corporations.

Nationwide, income from wealth gets a special lower tax rate
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so someone whose money comes from their big investment portfolio pays
less than someone who earns the same amount by working. And don’t
get me started on the breaks available to the uber-rich, whose stock
portfolios balloon until they pass them on to their children
without anyone ever paying anything
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the increase. Finally, wealthy corporations often dodge federal taxes
— in 2020, we found that 55 of the nation’s most profitable
corporations paid zero
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federal income taxes.

We could better tax the rich men near and far from Richmond by getting
rid of the special low tax rate on capital gains income and making it
the same as taxes on work; by cracking down on tax avoidance
by multinational corporations
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and by turning state tax codes
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side up, replacing sales taxes with new income tax brackets for
earnings over $150,000, over $250,000, and over $1 million. This would
generate the money needed to deliver more for working families —
from child care, to health care, to affordable college. And it would
raise that money from those who derive the most benefit from
capitalism.

I’ll admit I’ve been humming lines from Oliver’s song, but what
sticks in my head more is the response from labor balladeer Billy
Bragg, who’s been refining his political and economic views for
decades. Bragg’s new song, “Rich Men Earning North of a Million
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taps proud musical traditions that give voice to economic hardship,
from spirituals to the blues, bluegrass, country, rock and hip-hop.

I’ve added Bragg’s newest to my playlist. And my hunch is that
Anthony wouldn’t like me citing his song any more than he liked the
Republicans doing so. But I can’t ignore the anger of someone
working for “bullshit” pay who is pissed off at the power that
rich men have in our political system and in our tax code. I’ll take
the sentiments from both musical voices to honor working class
narratives, channel feelings of disempowerment, and push for a more
economically just country. Starting with better taxing rich men,
wherever they live.

_Amy Hanauer is the executive director of the Institute on Taxation
and Economic Policy._

_Sign up for The Hill newsletters and alerts.
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* Music
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* economic inequality
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* tax reform
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* Billy Bragg
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