'Ed Kleinbard Does Not Want a Less Progressive Tax System'

Jared Bernstein wants to correct a potential "misimpression" of an op-ed by Ed Kleinbard (this was in today's links):

No, Ed Kleinbard Does Not Want a Less Progressive Tax System: I favorably reviewed Ed Kleinbard’s book here the other day so I’m obliged to step in a correct what looks to me like a misimpression growing out of an oped he has in today’s NYT.

Because the oped is entitled “Don’t Soak the Rich” and because Ed, IMHO, doesn’t articulate the nuances in his argument the way he needs to, the oped is being misrepresented as a call for a less progressive tax system (I also think Ed’s mistaken in his claim that the US tax system, all in, is the most progressive across advanced economies—in fact, it’s only mildly progressive…but more on that later).

For example, responding to the oped, Len Berman, a DC tax expert, tweeted “a progressive’s call for less progressive taxation.”

I can see where Len gets that from the piece, and obviously Ed will have to speak for himself, but Ed’s book clearly supports progressive taxation. He may not see the need to make the tax system more progressive, though his book calls for just that in ways I’ll note in a moment. But he certainly does not call for less progressivity. ...