Austerity reduces taxes on capital while raising taxes on labor income

Evidence

The same principle applies to the other side of the fiscal austerity coin, state revenues: it is not about whether the state increases taxes, but about whom it increases taxes for. Today, most governments enact regressive tax reforms, cutting taxes for those with capital income (and providing generous tax loopholes) while increasing taxes for those with labor income, who have little room for evasion given that they are taxed directly from their paychecks. In the US, people who earn income from wages are taxed disproportionately more than those who earn income through capital gains—most of which, of course, are earned by the rich. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 146

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Austerity ignores the externality costs of top-income decisions on lower-income people — Mark Blyth, Austerity: The History of a Dangerous…, 62; Austerity’s core purpose is to deepen workers’ dependence on wage labor — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 145; Austerity is state intervention that transfers resources from workers to capital — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 195 (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Austerity is state intervention that transfers resources from workers to capital #expands (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 195
• Fiscal and monetary austerity jointly transfer capital accumulation costs onto working classes #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 774
• Austerity is a counteroffensive that shifts resources from workers to investors. #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1467
• Regressive taxation hits wages at source while capital income escapes through loopholes #expands (0.85) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 146
• Fascist austerity dismantled welfare, cut taxes on capital, and banned unions #corroborates (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 193