Apr
22
2026

Fat Cats and Democrats

An interesting tweet from Tom Wood:

Interestingly, the party that claims to be the champions of the poor and oppressed does a pretty good job of locking up the votes of the unpoor. I did a little remarking about this myself in my book report on Musa al-Gharbi's We Have Never Been Woke.

A little bit older data, on the 117th Congress, can be found here, listing the color-coded CongressCritter for each congressional district in descending order by the district's median household income.

Reader, how far down in that list do you have to go in order to find a Republican?

Spoilers: down to #18, where New York's 2nd congressional district is represented by Andrew Garbarino. Then you have to skip down over another nine Democrats to find another Republican: Lee Zeldin, who represented NY's 1st congressional district. Its current Critter is Nick LaLota, also a Republican.

Further exercise for the reader: how far down the list do you have to go to find a CongressCritter in favor of capping or eliminating the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, a feature of the tax code that overwhelmingly favors the well-off.

(No, I don't know the answer there. My guess is: pretty darn far.)

Also of note:

  • But it's not all cheesecake and chardonnay for the wealthy. Jack Salmon wonders: Have Surtaxes and Tax Increases on High Earners Led to More Income Tax Revenues?

    There has been a wave of high-spending states imposing additional surtaxes, capital gains, and higher marginal tax rates on high earning residents. In every state, the argument for such additional taxes is to fill budget gaps and fund new spending initiatives. Yet, a careful analysis of income tax revenues suggests that these taxes are not leading to the revenue windfall that state policymakers often promise.

    The Governor of Maine recently signed into law a budget that includes a 2 percent surcharge on income over $1 million. This comes just weeks after Washington state imposed a 9.9 percent tax on income above $1 million. Other states such as Minnesota and Maryland have imposed additional capital gains surtaxes on high earners in recent years.

    Many blue states now have top marginal income tax rates (combined federal, state, local, FICA, and NIIT) that are above 50 percent, and this list looks set to grow further.

    Jack concentrates on recent tax hikes on the rich in New York and Massachusetts; thanks to out-migration and "behavioral responses", he finds "no support for the claim that higher marginal tax rates on top earners generate large and sustained revenue gains."

  • This seems sketchy. Dominik Lett and Chris Edwards discuss a troubling and under-publicized effort: Trump Cuts the Inspectors General.

    Federal agencies house 72 inspectors general offices to audit government spending and root out waste, fraud, and abuse. These watchdogs cost a combined $3.9 billion annually—just 0.06 percent of federal spending—but likely save taxpayers many billions more than that from their investigative efforts.

    For some reason, the Trump administration has fired or forced out at least 21 of the inspectors general (IGs) since January 2025. In its recent budget, the administration proposes cutting real IG funding by 23 percent between fiscal 2025 and fiscal 2031.

    "For some reason", indeed. Were they doing too good a job of investigating people like Kristi Noem?

  • We take too many things for granted. David R. Henderson points out a biggie: How Our Daily Drive Offers Valuable Lessons About Markets.

    An underappreciated marvel of modern life unfolds daily on our roads and highways. Millions of drivers safely navigate complex traffic environments with little supervision. No governing body tells us when to brake, when to merge, or how fast to go. Instead, we rely on a handful of simple rules: stop at red lights, pay attention to speed limits, stay in your lane, yield when necessary, and avoid collisions.

    As governments both left and right appear increasingly seduced by the appeal of managed economies—through tariffs, industrial policy, and price controls—road lessons are worth remembering. Millions of us spontaneously coordinate on roadways each day to travel safely to our destination. The same principles that keep traffic flowing can also keep economies growing.

    So very true. And I speak as someone who recently drove to Boston and back. I was inspired to leave a comment:

    On my drives, I'm often impressed by similar observations: the commercial establishments along the road. Hair salons, grocery stores, gyms, pharmacies, pet shops, restaurants of widely varying cuisines, gas stations, body shops, dance studios, furniture stores, ...

    I realize that (like traffic) there's some regulation involved, probably too much, but there's no Master Planner that dictates whether a given structure should house a Chipotle, a Great Clips, a Planet Fitness, a Guitar Center, a Whole Foods, a CVS, or...

    Another "underappreciated marvel". Like pencils.