The Financial Times columnist Samuel Brittan, one of the first monetarist economists in Britain, has issued a warning that the United States cannot allow the gap between the pay of top executives and the rest of society to continue to grow on the present scale. He calls for redistributive taxation to redress the situation. [1]
“Republicans,” he warns, “will not be able for ever to divert attention to religious and ‘moral’ issues.” They “would be wise not to tempt fate by insisting on making permanent the tax cuts at the top of the scale.” He expresses his fear that the alternative to some modest increases in taxation on the very wealthy may well be a more aggressive soak-the-rich campaign.