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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]"5. Finally, the article raises the question of what our broader conversation should be surrounding privilege and who has access to college, if the real beneficiaries of affirmative action are males?"

The NYT never addresses what the real issue is - resource hoarding of the 1%, the truly "privileged". I thought that series of articles today in the NYT was a total distraction. What we need is more equitable taxation of wealth in addition to a truly revolutionary change in which our society thinks about poor people and addressing their needs, but I'm not holding my breath for the NYT to write about that. As long as the 1% controls the conversation and baits us with internecine conflict amongst ourselves, nothing will change. Admissions at a group of selective colleges will barely move the needle.[/quote]

I am always amused at the economic ignorance of so many.  We don't tax wealth.  We tax income.  A wealth tax has been tried.  Take France for example. It imposed a wealth tax, but had to scale it back because the significant capital outflows put a material burden on the middle class.  A wealth tax only works if it is implemented globally, which, of course, is unrealistic.   So I assume what you meant is that we need higher taxation on income.   This is an often mentioned narrative of the progressive class.  One thing I don't ever really receive an answer to from progressives is whether higher marginal taxes on income impact economic productivity.  I doubt I will hear a meaningful answer here.

My mentor in law school was an esteemed tax professor who was the spouse of perhaps our most famous Supreme Court Justice in the last four decades.  I recall talking to him in a social setting and his mention of being a consultant to a Scandanavian country with high marginal tax rates.  He motioned to his cohort to look out at the harbor see all of the yachts moored there.  He queried how could that be, given the high marginal tax rates?  Of course the answer is that the tax base is relatively narrow, and statistically invariably becomes narrower when income tax rates increase.  The relevant governments (mostly progressive) like this because it increases their importance in terms of doling out favors.   This is not to say that there is not room for marginal tax increases, but rather that a fairly sophisticated discussion has to occur about the follow on impacts of doing so.  And if taxes get high enough, the wealthy - likely today at $20M or net worth above, don't have difficulty finding tax avoidance or mitigation or deferral strategies.  Sorry to ruin your day.[/quote]

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