Anand Marri and Scott Wylie published in Social Education

| November 15, 2011

An article by TC Social Studies Associate Professor Anand Marri and doctoral candidate Scott Wylie can be seen in last month’s Social Education. Former TC Social Studies program coordinator and current dean of the University of Iowa College of Education Margaret Crocco serves as lead author on their article “Income Inequality and U.S. Tax Policy.” The piece presents statistics and a lesson plan around federal income tax policy as it pertains to wealth distribution in the U.S.

Dr. Marri explains:

In this article, we examine the current state of income inequality in the United States, put wealth distribution into the context of attitudes towards wealth in the United States, and offer a lesson on income taxes in American history, which have served as an important tool of fiscal policy to raise revenue by the federal government. The lesson focuses on taxation as a form of federal revenue generation that also has the effect of wealth redistribution. The federal tax program since its inception in 1913 has been a “progressive” one, that is, those at the highest income levels pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes than those at lower levels. In the lesson, we pose the question: “Just how progressive should the U.S. income tax system be?”

Crocco, M. S., Marri, A. R., & Wylie, S. (2011). Income inequality and U.S. tax policy. Social Education, 75(5), 256-252.