Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America

by Kurt Andersen

Tax rates for the well-to-do and the tax code in general are fundamental to the story of this book: they are the most direct, large-scale way in which economic fairness or unfairness is built into the system. And for the last forty years, the story of the tax code has been the same back and forth and back again, Republicans radically lowering rates on business and the rich, then Democrats nudging them back up, not mainly to expand social programs or redistribute wealth but to reduce budget deficits. And true to form, in 2017, with Republicans once again in control of both the White House and Congress, the average income tax paid by millionaires was radically cut once again—all the way down to 27 percent, the lowest rate since the Reagan 1980s.