These two books, which are diverse in style and length, are the products of writers with vastly different backgrounds. But they have a common theme, and they reach some strikingly similar conclusions. They cite similar figures, from similar sources, to demonstrate that the United States, and indeed many countries in the world, are becoming more unequal, both as a result of an economic dynamic and a movement away from redistributive taxation. In other words, both pre- and post-tax inequality is rising. In this way, both books address what has become, in the wake of the global financial crisis, the most pressing political issue of the age. Both authors recommend higher rates of taxation, more aggressive approaches to tax evasion and tax avoidance, as well as—more surprisingly—a basic minimum income to be paid to all citizens.
Collins, the Director of the Institute for Policy Studies’ Program on Inequality and the Common...