Tax Reform Gone Wild

Tax Reform Gone Wild

From Optimist Economy by Kathryn Anne Edwards and Robin Rauzi

April 14, 2026 · 46 min · Season 2 · Episode 12

About this episode

The episode discusses the challenges and implications of state-level tax reforms aimed at the wealthy and the need for federal solutions to national issues.

From California to Washington to New York, states are trying to tax the very rich. The press keeps rehashing whether millionaires and billionaires will flee those states. Wrong question. The more important one is why we’re improvising tax policy state to state when it’s the federal government that should be dealing with health care, child care and affordability—all of which are national problems. Meanwhile, some Senate Democrats are proposing to take even more people out of the tax system entirely. None of these specific proposals make income taxes simpler or fairer, but they do suggest there’s an appetite for reform. --- Chapters : 00:01:18 Announcements 00:02:33 Retcon: Occupational Licenses 00:06:16 Terms & Conditions: Progressive 00:07:59 Big Pilcrow: Everyone Wants to Tax Millionaires 00:38:23 Executive Orders: Unreadable Menus and Tax Complainer Merch 00:41:42 Spiritual Sponsors: Dream Robin & the Nobel Laureate’s WNBA Contract Make Optimist Economy economically viable: https://optimisteconomy.com We have faces on the Optimist Economy YouTube channel⁠⁠ . We’re also on Instagram at ⁠⁠ @optimist_economy or TikTok at ⁠⁠ @optimist_economy . The party is at the Substack…

People in this episode

Hosts: Kathryn Anne Edwards, Robin Rauzi

Topics covered

  • tax reform
  • wealth taxation
  • state vs federal policy
  • income tax
  • health care
  • child care
  • affordability

Keywords

  • tax reform
  • millionaires
  • billionaires
  • federal government
  • income tax
  • health care
  • child care

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: California, Washington, New York

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