Introduction

The master narrative of American meritocracy has long been perpetuated throughout Western society, emphasizing that the harder a person works, the more they will succeed. However, the ability to achieve this progression is not all-inclusive; certain groups have often been held back by disadvantages and governmental limitations placed against them. As such, these drawbacks have resulted in the stagnation of wages and an undeniably extreme level of governmental inequity. These economic issues must be acknowledged in order to understand the true placement of people within society, eliminating harmful stereotypes based on class, gender, and race through the implementation of a universal basic income, minimum wage increase, and tax reforms that seek to lessen the economic disadvantages currently existing.

Historical Background

Since the founding of America, the institutionalized, and often inescapable, idea that every person can succeed has consumed the lives of many who came to this country seeking freedom and opportunity. During the First Wave of Immigration, namely the colonists, people came to the New World hoping to progress themselves by starting anew as a means of moving up the social ladder. At the time, European nations were held in tight aristocracies, particularly in England where most of the North American colonists originated from. This meant that people’s lives and opportunities were dependent upon “birth privilege” granted to them rather than what they achieved through hard work, restricted by the social standing that they had been born into. Particularly added onto by primogeniture, which made it so that only the first son would inherit land holdings, other younger members of the family looked outward to the newly-discovered Americas as a land of possibility. Accordingly, the colonists came over seeking a life where they were free to socially progress, spurring the creation of the meritocratic system that the United States is still based on, meaning that success in life was defined by hard work rather than unearned advantages given to a person. However, while this idea of meritocracy was good in nature, it was not truly upheld. 

Even within the colonists, major hypocrisies exist between the portrayals of them as being “hard-working” as has often been taught in history classes, and the reality of them only achieving economic success due to the exploitation of those around them. For the first colonists, it was the Native Americans and indentured servants, and then later African slaves. As time continued, these facts were overlooked, showing only the positive side that has long fueled the unrealistic idea of the American meritocracy. If the belief that anyone can achieve is accepted by all, those who are unable to do so because of the societal inequities they face will be slighted.

This myth of meritocracy was further fueled by Benjamin Franklin whose life became the paragon of the “American Dream”. Beginning as the son of a working-class family in Boston, Franklin eventually rose from working as an apprentice for his brother James where they published a weekly newspaper that often satirized leaders nearby, to becoming one of the most well-known people in the colonies. Recognized for his countless ingenious inventions such as the lightning rod, bifocals, and catheter, Franklin served as a true inspiration to those around him. As such, he had an immensely powerful influence over the American people, able to establish this meritocratic idea based on his own actions. Within Poor Richard's Almanac, he laid the four keys to success that a person must embody in order to achieve economic success. These were honesty, thriftiness, hard work, and perseverance, indicated through his proverbial aphorisms within the Almanac. Additionally, he found that the “way to wealth” was frugality and industry, deeply impacting the mindsets and beliefs of the individuals who received the Almanac upon 10,000 being printed yearly.  

 However, the often overlooked part of Franklin’s story is that he had the aid of wealthy investors to assist him throughout his journey by giving him a strong economic basis. Particularly when it comes to his numerous inventions, he likely could not have completed this no matter how great his mind was if he did not have financial aid. Even his diplomatic ventures in France during the American Revolution were funded by wealthy people that he befriended, illustrating the discontinuities within this meritocracy even when it was first built. 

Because a system has been accepted in America that does not analyze the disadvantages placed against certain groups of people, often people of colour, there are stereotypes and biases placed against such people that generalize them as “lazy” and “unintelligent”. This idea of “laziness” still exists within our society today as seen through a study into the negative stereotyping against people of colour, illustrating the current and standing relevance of this issue. In reality though, it was not their lack of work that prohibited them from gaining “success”, it was the fact that they simply could not achieve within the meritocracy because it was not applicable to them, cordoned off within society. 

Dominant Issue 

Consequently, inequities seen in the inherent biases and views that people are indoctrinated to hold prohibit the American meritocracy from truly becoming a reality. This is thoroughly manifested in the current economic state of America, finding that income inequality is higher than that of all other developed nations globally. Demonstrated through the Gini coefficient, a value that measures income inequality on a scale of 0 to 100 (a higher score denoting increased inequality), the United States is found to have a similar coefficient to Turkey and Bulgaria, much higher than that of other developed nations. This crisis in economic inequality must be readily addressed, no longer allowing for deficient tellings of history that fuel meritocratic ideals to dominate society.  

Moreover, this inequality is further exacerbated by the taxes granted to different groups of people, with the most wealthy in America facing the lowest payroll tax rates in the entire country. Particularly through skewed income tax deductions, an economic system dependent upon the taxes of those in the middle and lower classes is built. Not only does this place a massive burden on those that the meritocracy works against, namely people of colour and of the female sex who are often left disenfranchised, but it also creates an unstable economic system. Instead of taking away money from those who only have a minimal amount of it, an unskewed tax system must be found and implemented that takes a just amount of every person’s pay. This means that the top 1% of economic holders will pay the most in taxes, lowering accordingly from there. 

Past Policies

In 2022, President Joe Biden passed the Inflation Reduction Act where he pledged to create a fairer tax system by placing a 15% minimum tax on corporations that bring in more than $1 million of profits yearly, placing a 1% tax on buybacks of stock for large corporations when they exceed $1 million in an annual period, and preventing tax cheats from occurring (particularly for people whose income exceeds $400,000 annually. While Biden’s actions in the creation of this act were a positive step towards reducing income inequality, a drastic amount more must be done. The current situation that the United States sits in is unignorable and must be readily addressed. 

Furthermore, acts such as the SALT (State and Local Tax) Deduction seemingly aid all individuals in general to pay lower taxes, yet structural advantages given to those who already have attained economic success largely due to birth privileges and ascendancies make it so that this act provides no true succor. Instead, it merely proliferates the illusion of action being taken to reduce income inequality, justifying many who sit down and stay silent about such prevalent issues. Specifically, the SALT deduction only actually benefited the top 75.1% of taxpayers, those of which surmount a gross income of $1 million annually. This further heightened the crisis of inequity currently ongoing rather than actually reducing it as it pledged to do. 

While these policies have attempted to lower income inequity as discussed, it seems as though none have truly ended the tax crisis, likely going back to the fact that they are not looking into the root causes of these issues historically. There are many circumstantial factors that impact the economy depending on what is ongoing both domestically and internationally at a given time, but there are also some parts of the existing economic system that are structurally built upon bias. Exploring the historical background that has led to current inequities is essential if there is any hope of creating a policy that rewrites the wrongs of the past to progress toward a better future. 

Risks of Indifference

Often throughout the past, issues not directly impacting every individual are overlooked and not acted upon, regardless of the extremely negative effect that they have on many who are often not represented in the majority. When it comes to a topic such as income inequality, the upper class who are not harmed by these economic disparities tend to have a higher influence in government. This can specifically be seen in the utilization of many legal loopholes that those of a higher net worth are able to find. Many policies previously discussed looked to equalize the existing tax difference, an action that would result in higher taxes for the more financially advantaged individual, thus indicating why they would prevent such policies from being truly put in place. These limitations must be surpassed to not only provide true equality but to uplift an economic system in America that is fully balanced. 

Policy Solutions

To combat this issue, there must be a general universal basic income put in place, as well as an increase of the existing minimum wage to act against wage stagnation, an educational program to increase awareness and combat negative stereotypes, and the specific allocation of resources to provide equitable tax reforms. First of all, an examination of the benefits of a universal basic income must be completed, finding that it is generally defined to be a governmental program that distributes money at regular time intervals to ensure that all within their society of governance are accommodated for. As the world progresses towards a more technologically advanced and globalized future, it seems likely that governments will have to take on slightly differing roles to maintain their stronghold within their respective countries. Specifically, it would be greatly beneficial for the United States government to oversee a 

Universal Basic Income, or UBI, in America since it would aid large portions of the nation in many ways. As the preamble of the US Constitution states, it is the duty of the government to 

“promote the general Welfare”, able to do so through a UBI. Looking back at the past, a UBI has supposedly been viewed as something unrealistic and to be fair, it would have been difficult to implement earlier on in a time when the US did not have a stable governmental situation. However, the advancement of the United States to its current form allows further modification of the government system without concern being raised about the stability of the nation in the fulfillment of given plans. Accordingly, many advocates of racial equity during the Civil Rights Movement of the 20th century similarly championed a UBI, key among them being Martin Luther King Jr. Because of the aforementioned economic disadvantages due to structural inequities, people of colour are often left out of achieving “success” in the meritocracy of the US, making advantageous and equitable programs such as a UBI extremely beneficial to supposedly ‘level the playing field’. This would even further provide assistance due to it being unconditional, meaning that a person cannot be excluded from receiving a basic income regardless of their current life situation. In times of crisis, people tend to need economic aid the most, allowing for this program to be fully employed. In regards to economic funding, a specific governmental sector would be allocated to distributing wealth based on collected taxes and the money already collectively inserted into the government. There is already such an extreme wealth disparity, meaning that the balancing of this financial scale would grant large sums of money to work with. As such, further research would be less about the economic backing and more about the societal adjustment to implementing such a plan. 

In addition, the establishment of a UBI would be paired with an increase in the federal minimum wage in an initiative to counter the present stagnation of wages. Because pay has not adjusted based on national inflation, American people are making less and less money in comparison to the overall price of goods and services in the US. While it may superficially seem as if they are making the same amount of money, and thus has been overlooked to not be a rampant issue, this stagnant financial gain causes an increased ratio between money made and the money needed to survive. To further uphold the general welfare of the United States of America, it must be found that the minimum wage must increase along with the rate of inflation. This plan proposes to assess the minimum wage annually and analyze the percent change in inflation during that same yearly period, adjusting the minimum wage accordingly. Ensuring that economic equity in wages will be maintained such that no groups are left unable to survive and even thrive in America, an emphasis placed on the current lack of change in the minimum wage must be noted. 

Next, educational programs that combat the idea of meritocracy must be put in place to combat this issue, as well as why it has so long been overlooked, at its root cause. By this, it means examining history not just from the point of view that the so-called ‘victor’ holds, but also showing the side of the victim who is left in ruins. So much of American history has been built upon victor-victim relationships, fueling the ability of a select few to retell history in a way that boosts their power and lessens that of people around them as a way to champion their own ruling. By only having a few in charge of telling the past, the true history of America can be muddled and thus, the reality of how the current state of the US has been reached gets confused. Consequently, inequities seen in the inherent biases and views that people are indoctrinated to hold, prohibit the American meritocracy from truly becoming a reality. This is thoroughly manifested in the current economic state of America, finding that the solutions presented both above and below would be highly effective in ensuring that these issues cease to exist. Educational awareness tackles the root cause of the spiraling economic situations, creating a comprehensive and all-inclusive educational curriculum taught to disseminate factual and unbiased historical information. There must be an acknowledgement that societal progress toward “success” is not defined solely by the effort put in, as there have been countless groups who continuously put in the effort and yet never got anywhere because society had been structured to hold them back, specifically in regards to economics. Conclusively, this subsection policy of the overall solution presents an inclusive education curriculum mandated to be implemented upon creation in public schools nationally, explaining how the current state of America came to be and therefore how to alter it to become a place of true equity that allows for equal opportunities and progression. By virtue of this proposal, fervent disenfranchisement and structural incongruities through the uplifting of education will be eliminated upon the enactment of said policies.

Finally, equitable tax reforms must be completed to redress the existing tax inequality that favors the more financially advantaged, allowing for a better distribution of wealth to aid in the lives of all Americans. Currently, the lower income a person is, the more they pay on taxes, an unstable system that makes no sense from both an economic and a humanitarian viewpoint. From the economic standpoint, less tax money is able to be taken overall because these lower-income people can only contribute so much of their already-limited sum of finances, added onto by the lack of humanitarian provision that goes against the morals directly laid out by the American government. Instead, those who have the most money to grant to the government, namely those with a high annual income that they are able to sustainably support themselves and other dependents on, should be contributing the most to fulfilling governmental taxes. Additionally, this tax program will factor in non-numerical values such as race and gender to provide a holistic interpretation of the tax breakdown. As such, specifically people of colour will no longer have their racial differences exacerbated against them financially when it comes to taxes, instead entering into an economic system filled with understanding of past circumstances that have led them to this current moment in time (as backed up by the prior discussed educational program). Lastly, these tax reforms will restructure the standing economic holdings by impacting the top of the economic ladder most drastically. As of the first quarter of 2024, it was found that the top 10% of American financial holders were accountable for 2/3s of the wealth nationwide. As a result, there is a clear disparity that can be utilized to address the still-standing economic discrepancies, using their high wealth to still gain the same amount of tax funding governmentally to prohibit a tax deficit or the need for the enactment of further taxes as that would likely lead to public grievances. However, it can be indubitably believed that there would be no negative impacts of redistributing the existing taxes on those higher up as no new taxes are being introduced, simply making it so that an egalitarian economy can emerge that is non-discriminatory and fair-minded. 

Conclusion

Summatively, the contemporary economic system within the United States is built upon structural inequities and biases that withhold large portions of the American population from ever completely gaining “success” in terms of financial holdings. By promulgating a proposed policy that seeks to implement a universal basic income, have an annual analysis of the ratio between minimum wage and inflation to adjust the minimum wage accordingly as a means of fighting against the stagnation of wages, a multi-faceted education program, and the redistribution of taxes, these inherent disadvantages will be countered. Through this, the meritocracy of America will finally capitulate to a genuine meritocracy, not one that is simply an ostensible representation of such.

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