Nicholas Mirkay (Hawaii; Google Scholar) presented Formulating Tax Policy Through the Lens of Economic Dignity at Indiana-Maurer yesterday as part of its Tax Policy Colloquium hosted by Leandra Lederman:

We must examine our federal and state tax systems, which play a central role in overall fiscal policy, through the lens of economic dignity with an eye on the effect of these policies at the human or individual level. To harness the power of economic dignity, instructs Gene Sperling, policy determinations must begin with “the end goals of lifting human well-being.” Economic growth, an often pronounced as an end by policy makers, is not an end goal in and of itself because growth does not ensure it will lift all people from various socioeconomic, racial, and ethnic backgrounds. It does not automatically take into account differences in wealth accumulation or even the types of wealth held. A focus on growth alone likewise does ensure fairness and equal treatment. The end goal of human well-being must supersede ideology and not allow policy makers to get mired in the weeds of programmatic details. Such details may be necessary, but they are not the end goal.

In order to “go out of the comfort zone of [economic] numbers,” Sperling recommends this beginning with this question: “What would a person on his or her death bed say mattered most in his or her economic life?” What is the destination – the ultimate goal to which we aspire?

That is the question that must be asked when looking at our tax systems and formulating policy. If lifting the well-being of our citizenry is the end goal, how best do we achieve that end via our systems of taxation? The end goals should be tax systems that do not impose differing tax treatment based on the taxpayer’s race or ethnicity, labor versus investment income, wealth versus average or little wealth, dependent children or no children, and marital status, to name just a few. Tax expenditures should be evaluated to ensure the promulgated rules are going to achieve the intended end for all taxpayers, not just a chosen few.

Our quest is not for an “unreachable utopian ideal” but rather to provide access to similar opportunities. We’ve dipped our toes into the waters of economic dignity by enacting some tax policies (i.e., tax credits) that have yielded measurable positive results for taxpayers, such as lifting them out of poverty. It’s time to infuse an economic dignity framework systemically into our tax policymaking. Let our tax systems confer dignity.