For me, the three tax policies that are the most obvious we should pursue are a sacrilegious to the GOP:

  • Uncap the tax on Social Security while maintaining the benefit cap
  • 100% estate tax over … $X0M and go ahead and index to inflation
  • Fund IRS modernization, eliminate tax preparation for any household with less than … $500K in income or $XM in assets

What are some of my other “no brainer” policies?

  • Set anti-gerrymandering standards. There are many options, virtually all of them more fair than the current set. And we need federal law to ensure fairness. All of the lost court battles suggest congress can pass laws to set standards that reduce gerrymandering, but that they haven’t and the constitution doesn’t guarantee it.
  • Equal Rights Amendment, but also worded carefully to make clear we are eliminating any discrimination on the basis of gender – fuck transphobes. This just shouldn’t be a debated issue.
  • Make it illegal for states to rebrand federal programs– Medicaid and Medicare are called Medicaid and Medicare everywhere you are. The ACA Health Exchanges are exactly that.
  • Eliminate the tax exempt status for religious institutions and their employees.
  • Increase the federal minimum wage– it’s a fucking joke already– but yes, it should be adjusted based on geography and indexed over time.
  • Federally fund universal 12 weeks of parental leave for birthing parents and 4 weeks for non-birthing parents (I think both should be more and equal, but I think more takes it out of no-brainer zone)
  • Eliminate the debt ceiling
  • DC Statehood
  • Puerto Rican self-determination
  • Massively invest in battery, solar, wind, and geothermal power. Massively invest in the electrical grid infrastructure.
  • Take over payment processing from the 12 regional banks to have a single, instant clearance, digital payments/settlement system. Offer free basic personal banking (maybe at the Post Office?).

What are some interesting ideas?

I remember reading in the past about having a legislative body that can only eliminate laws or block laws from being passed as a hedge against complexity. It’s an interesting idea, but instead, the last decade or so has made me think we actually need to eliminate the idea of time-bound or sunsetting provisions in laws. Laws should stay in place until action is taken to stop them– there should be no time-based shenanigans on the price of legislation, and we should assume a steady state absent action. Stability is critical for decision making, and you shouldn’t have the ability to make your laws someone’s future bomb. This also makes the “budget fight” fucking moot. We are always in a state of continuing resolution until we vote to change things.