On Sunday, the Globe analyzed recent findings from economists Thomas Piketty and Emmanuel Saez that the burden of American taxes are increasingly shifting away from the wealthy, at least in the top 2/3 of the income scale, and approaching flat taxation. While discussion of this phenomenon (which is not universally accepted as fact) often focuses on class, I would suggest a better analysis: generational power.
Piketty states, “In a way, the US has been playing yo-yo with the rich.” In overlaying that yo-yo on American demographics, it strikes me as awfully convenient that the yo-yo should be most favorable to the rich just as the Boomers achieve their peak earning potential — and that the crushing weight of the budget deficit will force both a harsher and more progressive taxation scheme just as the Boomers retire out of those top brackets.
Boomers are well-known for their political clout. I don’t think that some sort of generational selfishness is at play here so much as simple demographics. (Nonetheless, I do hope the Boomers get over themselves as somehow more radical and cool than any generation before or after them). The possibility that taxation schemes follow not just class but generational interests bears further research.
