By Jason Sibert

Politics has undoubtedly taken a turn since Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders first ran for the Republican and Democratic Presidential nominations in 2016, as the contours of what’s acceptable laid out by President Ronald Reagan in the 1980s have fallen by the wayside.

The neoliberal period of politics started in the 1970s under Jimmy Carter. One of the about-faces I’ve seen in politics is politicians’ changing attitudes toward taxes. Figures like Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez are talking about tax rates on the wealthy of 90%, which were the marginal rates under Republican Dwight Eisenhower in the 1950s. This type of talk wasn’t allowed in the neoliberal period. Remember when President Bill Clinton was accused of being far left in the 90s when he instituted a 39% tax raise for the wealthy? The same thing was hurled at President Barack Obama in the 2010s.

Yes, I think the rich are undertaxed in this country, and the billionaires are a part of this class, even though I think there’s too much emphasis on billionaires by AOC and Bernie Sanders. Sociologist Lane Kenworthy advocated an expanded social insurance system in his book “Social Democratic America.” I agree with his vision of more generous unemployment insurance and social security, guaranteed paid vacation, paid sick days, paid family leave, pay gap insurance if your latest job pays less than your last, government as an employer of last resort, paid maternity leave for mothers, and several other social democratic policies. In addition, I’d also like to see guaranteed personal days.

How can a country fund a more social-democratic America without the tax rates favored by Sanders and AOC? Kenworthy explains how in his aforementioned book. He recommended that our country collect 10% more in Gross Domestic Product in taxes to expand an extended social democratic state. First, we return to the same tax rates we had under Clinton for everyone. This will raise 2% of the revenue we need. Therefore, the top marginal tax rate on the highest earners would be 39%. At the same time, let’s raise taxes on the top 1% a bit more, raising .7% of the GDP. This would bring in 2% of the GDP we need. We can add a value-added tax of 12% with limited deductions, bringing in five of the 10% of the GDP discussed above. We also must get rid of the tax deduction paid on mortgage loans. This would increase revenues by .6% of GDP. In addition, let’s use a carbon tax to combat greenhouse gas emissions. This will generate about .7%, and we need a modest tax on financial transactions, which would bring in another .5%. Also, we could raise the cap on social security taxes. Right now, an income of about $114K is not subject to taxation, leaving high earners with a way to dodge taxes. This would bring in another .2% of the GDP we need. Finally, to get the last .3% that we need, we would increase the payroll tax 1%, half on employees and half on employers.  Extra payroll taxes mean more social security.

Kenworthy gave us a tax plan for our future as a more social democratic America. Why not just rely on the very wealthy to pay the taxes? The ways mentioned above ensure everyone pays for the services they will benefit from, making those services hard to take away. We have the map to create a better social democracy than we have now. The question remains – can the Democratic Party get its act together and pursue it?

Jason Sibert is the Lead Writer of the Peace Economy Project.