NPR

Is the American Tax System Regressive?

A new book bucks conventional wisdom and says the American tax system is not progressive.
Source: Pixabay

Editor's note: This is an excerpt of Planet Money's newsletter. You can sign up here.

Normally, peer review is a boring process held behind the closed doors of the ivory tower. But the debate over The Triumph Of Injustice, the new book by Gabriel Zucman and Emmanuel Saez, has become like a proxy battle for the Democratic presidential primary.

Last week, Zucman, dressed in a dark suit with a collarless, blue shirt, swung by our offices in New York, and he took us through the controversy. "We wanted to have this debate," he said. "I just hope it's going to be broader than just Twitter, because, you know,

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from NPR

NPR6 min read
Shipbuilders Harness The Wind To Clean Up Global Shipping
Container ships use heavy fuel oil called bunker fuel. They’re more efficient than trains, trucks and planes. But bunker fuel is highly polluting, and container ships produce about 3% of the world’s emissions.
NPR4 min read
How Do You Build Without Over Polluting? That's The Challenge Of New Catan Board Game
A new version of the popular board game Catan aims to make players wrestle with a 21st-century problem: How do you develop and expand without overly polluting the planet?
NPR4 min readCrime & Violence
Heated Arguments At The Supreme Court In Newest Abortion Case
At issue is a clash between federal and state law about how pregnant women must be treated in the emergency room.

Related Books & Audiobooks