In her new book, The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy (University of Chicago Press, 2025), Boston College Law School Professor Ray Madoff explores what she sees as a central driver of economic inequality in the United States: its tax code. “While the American tax system was designed to serve as a counter to inequality, imposing its greatest burdens on those with the greatest capacity to pay,” Madoff explained, “today, it does just the opposite: imposing its greatest burdens on earners at all income levels, while those with high wealth, get a free pass.” Beyond explaining the current situation, The Second Estate also tells the story of how we got here and what can be done to ensure that all Americans share the carrying costs of government. Madoff is co-founder and director of the Boston College Law School Forum on Philanthropy and the Public Good. Read more from BC Law Magazine.