VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: 2020 Democratic Presidential Candidate John Delaney On Income Inequality

Income inequality continues to be a defining political issue, especially after Republicans have pushed to cut taxes on the wealthy.

Rep. John Delaney (D-Maryland), a 2020 Democratic presidential candidate, spoke to uPolitics exclusively about how he would help reduce such inequities.

“In my judgment, the reason we have so much income inequality is really two-fold,” said Delaney. “The first [reason] is that the world has changed really rapidly. Globalization and technological innovation have created the kind of dynamics we’ve seen historically.”

Delaney added he believes new fiscal policies are crucial, as the current tax system in the U.S. is unfair.

“We allow people who are investors to pay about half the tax rate as workers through a capital gains rate, which is dramatically lower than the rate on ordinary income,” he said. “That’s an outdated system, we don’t need that. That system was created when no one invested and we needed an incentive for people to invest.”

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Delaney went on to lament the fact that investors are often treated like “endangered species” that need to be salvaged by giving them lower taxes.

“I wanna raise the capital gains rate to equal ordinary income, that is the single biggest loophole in the U.S. tax code and I want to close it,” he added.

Delaney also noted how during his time in Congress, he passed the Opportunity Zone legislation, which mandated the creation of “real financial federal tax incentives for people to invest in distressed communities.”

The congressman added he would double the Earned Income Tax Credit in these distressed communities.

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