Wednesday, April 25, 2012

To Fund Obama's Proposed Spending Requires 11% Middle Class Tax Increase Plus Tax Increases On The Rich

From The Wall Street Journal, "Obama's Budget Means a Tax Increase on Everyone: Maintaining the president's higher spending levels will require raising taxes for all Americans, including an 11% increase on those earning less than $200,000." by Glenn Hubbard:
Now let's review the math. All these [Obama's proposed] tax increases on upper-income taxpayers are projected to raise $148 billion per year. Viewed next to [Obama's] proposed additional spending of roughly $500 billion per year, or this year's federal budget deficit of $1.3 trillion, the president's budget faces an arithmetic challenge.

How big is that challenge? Maintaining the president's higher spending will require raising taxes for all Americans. Assuming the president favors raising marginal tax rates over broadening the tax base (consistent with his failure to consider the tax proposals from Bowles-Simpson), an across-the-board tax increase of 11% for taxpayers with incomes under $200,000 would be required to raise the money the president proposes to spend.

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