How Do We Fix America’s Tax Problem? — with Senator Cory Booker

What It Covers

Senator Cory Booker joins Scott Galloway to discuss his Keep Your Pay Act, which eliminates federal income tax on the first $75,000 of household income, funded by closing wealthy loopholes. They also cover the $2 trillion annual deficit, entitlement reform, agricultural subsidies driving healthcare costs, and the Iran military conflict.

Key Questions Answered

• •Keep Your Pay Act mechanics: Booker's proposal makes the first $75,000 of household income tax-free, costing $5.5 trillion over ten years per Yale Budget Lab scoring. Funding comes from eliminating stepped-up basis, ending carried interest, raising the corporate tax rate from 20% to 28-29%, and increasing the top income rate from 37% to 39%.
• •Tax gap enforcement opportunity: The IRS, before Trump disbanded the specialized unit, identified hundreds of billions in uncollected taxes from high-income filers with complex returns. The Congressional Budget Office confirmed tens of billions in annual recoverable revenue simply through enforcing existing tax law — no new legislation required, just staffing and political will.
• •Agricultural subsidies drive healthcare costs: 93% of federal agricultural subsidies fund foods linked to chronic illness, while only 7% support healthy produce. This pricing distortion makes processed food artificially cheaper than fresh food. Pilot programs doubling SNAP benefits for fresh food purchases reversed diabetes in participants, directly reducing Medicaid expenditure downstream.
• •Social Security solvency without age increases: Booker argues raising the Social Security payroll tax cap — currently stopping at $160,000 in earnings — on upper-income earners alone generates sufficient revenue to maintain solvency without raising the eligibility age. He explicitly reversed his prior position supporting age increases after reviewing actuarial modeling with fiscal experts.
• •Wealth inequality compounds across generations: A 70-year-old today holds 72% more wealth than a peer did 40 years ago, while Americans under 40 hold 24% less. This generational wealth compression directly correlates with declining birth rates and political radicalization, making tax restructuring targeting intergenerational wealth transfer a demographic and social stability issue, not just fiscal policy.