Income inequality in the U.S. is surging reminiscent of the gilded age, according to

Inequality.org project of the Institute for Policy Studies. According to the Congressional Budget

Office between 1979 and 2021, the average income of the top 0.1% of households grew

almost 27 times as fast as the bottom 20%, which brings me to a question being asked across

the country today, should the very rich be subject to a special tax?

Hello and welcome to USA Today's The Excerpt. I'm Dana Taylor.

Today is Wednesday, March 25, 26.

Joining me to discuss the possibility of a wealth tax is USA Today personal finance reporter Daniel DeVise.

It's so good to have you back on, Daniel.

Happy to be here.

Daniel, give me an overview of how we got here.

What spurred this national conversation about a wealth tax?

Well, we have progressive taxation in this country, which means people who earn more generally pay a higher amount of their earnings as tax at higher levels of earnings.

But right now, compared with 40 or 50 or 60 years ago, the top tax rate, the rate you pay

on the top, top income is lower

than it's been in the past.

Even during the Clinton years and in the 90s, there was a significantly higher marginal

tax rate for people, the top earners than there is now.

President Trump has, you know, made a big deal out of trying to push down tax rates.

And his critics would say he's been especially pushing down tax rates for high earners.

And then you have this whole world of capital gains, of gains on stocks, basically,

and the taxes on those are lower.

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