ADDRESSING WEALTH DISPARITIES: REIMAGINING WEALTH TAXATION AS A TOOL FOR BUILDING WEALTH

In the past three decades, research has indicated that the building of personal assets can have a sustainable impact on well-being. Yet to the extent that the tax system has incorporated this insight, it has been done in a piecemeal, ad hoc fashion, disproportionately benefiting those with wealth and further reinforcing wealth inequality. This Article argues that while reducing wealth concentrations is important, there should be an increased emphasis on how our tax system can build wealth or, put differently, level up. While the problem of wealth disparities may be too large for any one part of the federal policy toolkit to solve, I argue that the tax system can and should play a vital role.