ABSTRACT
Money matters. Family income shapes what parents can offer children, and thus affects children’s life chances. I demonstrated in Chapter 2 how federal policies regarding minimum wage and union organizing (among other policies) maintain poverty incomes for many millions of Americans. This chapter reveals that rules set by Congress protect great wealth and the extremes of inequality that characterize the U.S. We will see that inequality of income is directly related to U.S. tax regulations. Regressive payroll and state taxes, historically low taxes charged those of high income, unethical but legal tax dodges for the wealthy, and laws that allow corporations with billions of dollars in profits to pay little or no tax, all support income and wealth inequality.
