A new study by Ernst & Young finds that President Obama’s plan to let tax increases on the wealthy return in the name of fairness doesn’t hold economic water. David Harsanyi writes in Human Events:
According to Ernst & Young, economic output would grow 1.3 percent in the long run, costing $200 billion in today’s economy. Employment would fall by another 0.5 percent in the long run, costing the economy around 710,000 fewer jobs in today’s economy.
In addition, capital investment would fall by 2.4 percent in the long run. Wages would fall by 1.8 percent, “reflecting a decline in workers’ living standards relative to what would have occurred otherwise.”
And that’s just the start.
The study states that “real long-run economic consequences for allowing the top two ordinary tax rates and investment tax rates to rise in 2013. This policy path can be expected to reduce long-run output, investment and net worth.”
Another new study, this one by the conservative American Action Forum, examines the economic effects of the looming fiscal cliff. It maintains that for most small businesses in the top tax brackets, the effective marginal tax rate amounts to a 50 percent tax of their income.
Hopefully word won’t get back to Washington that some Americans may actually be keeping a whole half of what they earn.