Federal Reserve: These states are stealing from the poor
Federal Reserve: These states are stealing from the poor
By John-Henry Perera | May 26, 2015 | Updated: May 27, 2015 6:01pm
A team of researchers at the Federal Reserve are pointing fingers at more than a handful of states they say are actively undermining the government's attempts to curb income inequality.
According to a new paper, the federal tax code works to compress income inequality across the U.S., a problem that has been growing since 1980. The general idea is that high earners should be taxed at higher rates, allowing a good portion of that revenue to go into programs that help lower-income people.
In contrast, some states have instituted "regressive" tax policies that offset federal taxes and widen the growing gap between the haves and have-nots.
"The overall progressive structure of federal taxes tends to mitigate income inequality across households to a substantial extent in all U.S. states," the paper reads. "However, we find that state-levied taxes, on average, work to exacerbate income inequality."
More:
http://www.chron.com/news/nation-world/article/Federal-Reserve-These-states-are-stealing-from-6287561.php