The majority wants to raise taxes on the Rich.
Friends,
Everywhere Democrats won this week, they won because they focused on the “affordability crisis” facing average working Americans — the soaring prices of housing, food, health care, energy, transportation, and child care.
The biggest political-economic question between now and next year’s midterms is what those newly elected officials, and other Dems and progressives who’ll be running in 2026, will actually do (and propose to do) about this crisis.
My survey of Democrats and progressives at this point in time shows four basic approaches.
1. Cut red tape, fight NIMBY zoning laws, freeze utility rates. This is how Virginia governor-elect Abigail Spanberger promises to increase the supply of housing and how New Jersey governor-elect Mikie Sherrill plans to keep electricity affordable.
It looks easy, but it’s not. What many call “red tape” are regulations designed to protect the public. Utility rate freezes often lead to disrepair and outages. Meanwhile, NIMBY zoning laws are backed by the wealthy and notoriously difficult to repeal.
Also, it’s far from clear that deregulation and utility freezes will be enough to satisfy the growing number of voters who want dramatic change and reject Trump’s wrecking ball.
2. Raise taxes on the wealthy to help finance what average working people need. New York’s Zohran Mamdani, for example, has promised fare-free city buses and no-cost child care, which he plans to pay for with a 2% tax on incomes over $1 million and an increase in the corporate tax rate.
It’s difficult to raise taxes on the wealthy and big corporations for the obvious reason that they exercise huge political power and fight tax increases tooth and nail. Some argue that the first step must be to get big money out of politics, and that Democrats have to stop taking big money.
Were America to return to the tax rates we had in the 1950s, including a marginal tax rate on the highest incomes that exceeded 90 percent, we’d be able to strengthen safety nets and subsidize health care. But for decades Dems and progressives have been so afraid of being tarred with the “tax-and-spend” label, and so dependent on big money, that they’ve been reluctant to take this route.
3. Constrain corporate power. A third strategy is to bring prices down by fighting concentrations of corporate power. Spanberger, for example, promises to stop landlords from colluding to keep rents high and stop pharmaceutical middlemen from driving up drug prices. Mamdani promises to freeze rents on certain categories of apartments. Sherrill wants to go after giant corporations that are buying up housing.
The lopsidedness of power in our system is really at the core of the affordability crisis. Yet constraining corporate power is difficult at the city or state levels because corporations can readily shift jobs to another state or city. Arguably the best way to constrain corporate power is through federal enforcement of antitrust (anti-monopoly) laws and by making it easier for workers to form and join unions.
4. Raise the minimum wage. A key part of Mamdani’s platform is a significant increase in New York City’s minimum wage, starting with $20 per hour in 2027 and moving toward $30 per hour by 2030.
The federal minimum wage hasn’t been raised since 2009, when it was increased to its current rate of $7.25 per hour. A basic reason why lower-income Americans need so much help with housing, food, health care, and child care is that they’re not paid enough.
Many states and some cities have raised their own minimum wages. But if they raise them too high, employers will pass on those costs in the form of higher prices to consumers, which could worsen the affordability crisis.
So, in your view, which of these approaches should Democrats and progressives emphasize in resolving the affordability crisis? POLLWhat should Dems and progressives emphasize as the way to resolve the affordability crisis?Fight red tape and freeze ratesRaise taxes on wealthyConstrain corporate powerRaise minimum wageOther (in comments)