Democrat Theat To Proseperity

From Arthur Laffer:

"...over the last 25-plus years, the only group that experienced an increase in income taxes paid as a share of GDP was the top 1% of income earners. Even the top 2%-5% of income earners saw a decline in the GDP share of their income taxes paid..."

"...The effective average tax rate for the top 1% of income earners barely wiggles as Congress changes tax codes after tax codes, and as the economy goes from boom to bust and back again (see chart).

The question is, how can that effective average tax rate be so stable? The answer is simply that the very highest income earners are and have always been able to vary their reported income and thus control the amount of taxes they pay. Whether through tax shelters, deferrals, gifts, write-offs, cross income mobility or any of a number of other measures, the effective average tax rate barely budges. But this group's total tax payments are incredibly volatile..."

Read the whole article here.

Tax Policy For The Next President

From todays Wall Street Journal:

... The first ticking bomb is the fate of the Bush tax cuts. CBO's optimistic federal budget surplus projection is based on the assumption that Congress will allow the president's tax cuts to expire as scheduled at the end of 2010. That would trigger the largest tax increase in history (nearly $1.9 trillion over seven years), raising taxes on 115 million taxpayers, and returning to the tax rolls 7.8 million low- and middle-income families who now pay no federal income tax because of the Bush tax cuts. If this bomb explodes, one thing is certain: It will damage the economy ...

Read the whole article here.