
For Immediate Release (updated 11/4/24)
U.S. Must Increase Taxes on Wealthy to Avoid Economic ‘Catastrophe,’ Sociologist Warns
‘America Is Going into Debt to Make the Wealthy Wealthier’
The United States will undergo a major economic crisis within 10 years if it doesn’t increase taxes on the wealthy, a mass media sociologist warns in a new book about wealth gaps.
“If the national debt is not reduced ... there will be a major economic catastrophe,” Dr. David Demers argues in the introduction to Falling Behind: Why Wealth Gaps Are Preventing You and Half of America from Getting Ahead.
Demers, who worked as a tenured professor at Washington State University before retiring to write more books about social problems, says the current $36 trillion national debt will balloon to $70 trillion by 2034 if federal tax policies continue to favor the wealthy. That level of debt will be reached sooner if Donald Trump is elected president and reduces the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 15 percent.
“In 2034, the ratio of the debt to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will approach 200 percent, which is the tipping point, according to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.”
Iceland declared bankruptcy in 2008 when its debt-to-GDP ratio hit 110 percent. America’s current debt-to-GDP ratio is currently at 121 percent (or 100% if intergovernmental debt is excluded) and is climbing every year.
Demers’s research also shows that the massive and growing federal debt stems not from spending too much, but from a failure to collect enough taxes from the wealthy.
“America is going into debt to make the wealthy wealthier,” he writes. “Some politicians blame government spending for the debt. But even with the $10 trillion spent to combat the 2008-2009 Great Recession and the 2020-2023 COVID pandemic, inflation-adjusted federal government spending has only grown at an annualized (compounded) rate of 2.27 percent since 1980. The problem isn’t spending. The problem is a failure to raise enough tax revenue to reduce the debt.”
Demers argues that the tax revenues needed to pay down the debt cannot come from the working and middle classes, because they are already overtaxed. Two-thirds of them are having trouble paying their bills.
Since 1950, taxes (local, state and federal) on the working and middle classes have increased 59 percent, going from 17 percent to about 27 percent, he writes, citing data from the 2019 book The Triumph of Injustice by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman. In contrast, billionaires have seen their taxes slashed 67 percent and the wealthiest top 10 percent have seen their taxes decline 17 percent. Most of these tax cuts were enacted during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.
Overall, the wealthy are paying about 50 percent less in federal taxes than they did before 1980, Demers estimates.
Citing federal and international data sources, Demers points out that the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans currently have an average of $3.6 million in assets. In contrast, the bottom 50 percent have about $14,000, and the middle classes (the 50 to 90 percent group) have about $140,000.
“The American Dream is slipping away,” he says.
Unproofed drafts of selected chapters of Falling Behind are available online at DrDavidDemers.com
Falling Behind will be published in 2025. Demers is author of two dozen books, including The Ivory Tower of Babel: Why the Social Sciences Are Failing to Live Up to Their Promises, and worked as a tenured professor of communication and media sociology at Washington State University before retiring to spend more time writing books. He lives in Phoenix, where he teaches an introductory college-level sociology course to high school students. He can be reached at [email protected]
U.S. Must Increase Taxes on Wealthy to Avoid Economic ‘Catastrophe,’ Sociologist Warns
‘America Is Going into Debt to Make the Wealthy Wealthier’
The United States will undergo a major economic crisis within 10 years if it doesn’t increase taxes on the wealthy, a mass media sociologist warns in a new book about wealth gaps.
“If the national debt is not reduced ... there will be a major economic catastrophe,” Dr. David Demers argues in the introduction to Falling Behind: Why Wealth Gaps Are Preventing You and Half of America from Getting Ahead.
Demers, who worked as a tenured professor at Washington State University before retiring to write more books about social problems, says the current $36 trillion national debt will balloon to $70 trillion by 2034 if federal tax policies continue to favor the wealthy. That level of debt will be reached sooner if Donald Trump is elected president and reduces the corporate tax rate from 21 percent to 15 percent.
“In 2034, the ratio of the debt to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will approach 200 percent, which is the tipping point, according to the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.”
Iceland declared bankruptcy in 2008 when its debt-to-GDP ratio hit 110 percent. America’s current debt-to-GDP ratio is currently at 121 percent (or 100% if intergovernmental debt is excluded) and is climbing every year.
Demers’s research also shows that the massive and growing federal debt stems not from spending too much, but from a failure to collect enough taxes from the wealthy.
“America is going into debt to make the wealthy wealthier,” he writes. “Some politicians blame government spending for the debt. But even with the $10 trillion spent to combat the 2008-2009 Great Recession and the 2020-2023 COVID pandemic, inflation-adjusted federal government spending has only grown at an annualized (compounded) rate of 2.27 percent since 1980. The problem isn’t spending. The problem is a failure to raise enough tax revenue to reduce the debt.”
Demers argues that the tax revenues needed to pay down the debt cannot come from the working and middle classes, because they are already overtaxed. Two-thirds of them are having trouble paying their bills.
Since 1950, taxes (local, state and federal) on the working and middle classes have increased 59 percent, going from 17 percent to about 27 percent, he writes, citing data from the 2019 book The Triumph of Injustice by Emmanuel Saez and Gabriel Zucman. In contrast, billionaires have seen their taxes slashed 67 percent and the wealthiest top 10 percent have seen their taxes decline 17 percent. Most of these tax cuts were enacted during the presidencies of Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump.
Overall, the wealthy are paying about 50 percent less in federal taxes than they did before 1980, Demers estimates.
Citing federal and international data sources, Demers points out that the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans currently have an average of $3.6 million in assets. In contrast, the bottom 50 percent have about $14,000, and the middle classes (the 50 to 90 percent group) have about $140,000.
“The American Dream is slipping away,” he says.
Unproofed drafts of selected chapters of Falling Behind are available online at DrDavidDemers.com
Falling Behind will be published in 2025. Demers is author of two dozen books, including The Ivory Tower of Babel: Why the Social Sciences Are Failing to Live Up to Their Promises, and worked as a tenured professor of communication and media sociology at Washington State University before retiring to spend more time writing books. He lives in Phoenix, where he teaches an introductory college-level sociology course to high school students. He can be reached at [email protected]