NEW: On Tax Day, @samarthgupta.bsky.social argues in @ms.now we’re using a tax system built for a different era. With just 7 brackets, different incomes are being taxed the same. More brackets would better capture the gap between the top 1% and 0.01% and raise more revenue from the ultrarich.

There's been a robust debate about California's proposed wealth tax. The debate is dominated by bad faith arguments. Here's what critics get wrong about wealth taxation—and what they should be arguing about instead. www.wickedgoodpolicy.com/p/debunking-... 🧵

'If the Supreme Court, on the other hand, permits the President to issue tariffs under IEEPA, it will shape the future of US international economic policy in both predictable and unpredictable ways' writes Samarth Gupta.

A trip to Disney or a family outing to Fenway used to be a little splurge but manageable. Something you could do each year. Today, the experiences and events that define Americana are displacing the middle class, instead catering to the wealthy. www.wickedgoodpolicy.com/p/americanas...

Trump has promised to impose "secondary tariffs" next week on Russian energy sales to force Putin's hand. He's right to try to change Putin’s calculus, but is approach is misguided. Let's unpack why. thehill.com/opinion/inte...

A lot to like: ▫️Sec. 208 - NEPA reforms ▫️Sec. 209 - Innovation Fund for localities to boost supply ▫️Sec. 301 - Modular and prefab units ▫️Sec. 405 - Voucher reform to streamline unit inspections There's plenty of bipartisan things to move the ball forward. www.banking.senate.gov/newsroom/min...

The @evictionlab.bsky.social and @zoningatlas.bsky.social are both indispensable public goods. In every American town and city, there's now no denying the scale of the housing crisis and a root cause of it. ▪️https://www.zoningatlas.org/ ▪️https://evictionlab.org/

With additional resources, the IRS had: - lowered call wait times from 28 to 3 minutes - Improved its level of service from 15% to 88% - Provided 11,000 more hours of in-person support - Launched Direct File - Doubled audit rates on the wealthy and cracked down on e.g., corporate jet loopholes

The abundance agenda is absolutely necessary to solve our country's housing crisis, but it's not enough. We'll likely only have one shot at meaningful federal housing legislation and we have to make sure it meets the full breadth and depth of the problem. www.wickedgoodpolicy.com/p/abundance-...

We've not only created a system where millions of families are trapped in homelessness, but we've also enabled their pain to become a big pay day for extractive businesses. A must read from @brian-goldstone.bsky.social: www.goodreads.com/book/show/21...

Federal financing can mimic Medicaid expansion to direct more money toward high-poverty school districts. That money, in turn, could be used to get better teachers and mimic the Mississippi Miracle. www.wickedgoodpolicy.com/p/we-get-the...

Evan Bonsall, former elected official in Marquette, Michigan and current high school social studies teacher, on what Dems have gotten wrong on education and where we can go from here... Check out Wicked Good Policy's first guest post 🔽 www.wickedgoodpolicy.com/p/5-hard-tru...

When Tim Walz became Kamala Harris's running mate, progressives highlighted policies passed. It could not have been possible without Melissa Hortman. -Free school breakfast and lunch -Restoring voting rights for felons -Paid leave Great piece by @gracepanetta.bsky.social 19thnews.org/2025/06/rep-...

Contrary to what it feels like on a social media news feed, the political power of celebrity endorsements in presidential elections is largely gone. Celebrity influence can still be decisive in politics, but it needs be local and issue-based. www.wickedgoodpolicy.com/p/trumps-rig...

We can limit gun violence by subsidizing manufacturers and tech companies to build safer technology. We can pay for it by taxing the sales of assault rifles and high-capacity magazines. The best part? It'd only take 50 votes in the Senate. www.wickedgoodpolicy.com/p/technology...

VP Vance: "If the IRS can go after you because of what you think or what you believe or what you do, we’d no longer live in a free country.”

There’s still an off ramp from the road Trump is driving down. He'll take it if CEOs demand it. Once the economy regains stable footing, we can return to our regularly scheduled programming on regulation, spending, and taxes. It's Time for the Corporate Resistance: substack.com/@sg81/p-1616...

SNAP, Medicaid, the Child Tax Credit, and the Earned Income Tax Credit are lifelines to those most in need. But millions of Americans who qualify for these benefits don't receive them. Here's an idea to fix that:

If you don’t mow your lawn, the grass doesn’t stop growing. But, Republicans are pretending that's not the case—that the debt won't rise with another round of tax cuts. They'll look away and leave future generations to clean up the mess. In @salonnewsroom.bsky.social: www.salon.com/2025/04/07/s...

Trump claims he won't cut a penny from Social Security, but it's just a trick we shouldn't fall for.

In which, I talk about teenagers stealing their parents' booze, Benoit Blanc, and how the President's tax proposal will gut Social Security: www.salon.com/2025/04/02/t...

To use Suzanne Mettler's term, we have a "submerged state." Americans don’t hear about the the policies they benefit from, but they do hear a lot about things like “Obama Phones” and their tax dollars going to Ukraine. Democrats need to find a way to change that. substack.com/home/post/p-...

Today in Wicked Good Policy, some thoughts on how and why to talk about the granular way DOGE cuts are hurting the very Americans that Trump claims to prioritize wickedgoodpolicy.substack.com/p/grounding-...

Gutting the CDFI Fund will hurt the very communities President Trump claims to prioritize. www.newsweek.com/trumps-lates...

My first post in "Wicked Good Policy," a homage to home and a place to share thoughts on economic policy and politics. Subscribe for more! The next post will be an op-ed on Trump's recent Executive Order and the CDFI Fund. wickedgoodpolicy.substack.com/p/democrats-...