Saturday, December 15, 2012

CRS report: Higher taxes on rich do not impede growth

Not that most Republicans will care, but once again, facts and statistics do not support their article of faith that higher taxes on the One Percent damage the economy:

"Analysis of such data [since WW II] conducted for this report suggests the reduction in the top tax rates has had little association with saving, investment, or productivity growth," the study says. "It is reasonable to assume that a tax rate change limited to a small group of taxpayers at the top of the income distribution would have a negligible effect on economic growth."

The American economy has done much better than it has today with much higher tax rates on the rich -- a top marginal rate as high as 91 percent. In fact what our current tax policies do is create greater disparities of wealth, which hurts the U.S. economy in the long run, since, at the end of the day, our economy runs on consumption, therefore the American economy requires a broad, stable middle class that is not mired in debt and can afford to buy the goods and services that our economy can produce.


By Michael McAuliff
December 13, 2012 | Huffington Post

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