The mother of all tax hikes
November 20, 2007| By Nathaniel Ward
Should Congress shut down a major city like Kansas City for a year? That would be the economic effect of a tax-hike plan winding its way through Congress, according to a simulation by The Heritage Foundation’s Center for Data Analysis.
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According to Heritage models, here’s what could happen in 2013 alone if liberals get their way:
- $2,000—Decrease, on average, of each household’s after-tax income. This is about the annual savings of the median household.
- 1,030,000—Decrease in job creation, “equal to a normal full year of job creation.”
- $100 billion—Decrease in economic output, “equivalent to closing down Kansas City for a year or Omaha for two full years.”
How would this happen? A proposal advocated by Rep. Charles Rangel (D-N.Y.) would raise taxes on middle- and upper-income workers. But this would be the just first assault on the nation’s pro-growth economic policy, argue Heritage’s Bill Beach and Guinevere Nell. Rangel and many of his colleagues also seek to allow the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire, resulting in “probably the largest tax increase in U.S. history.”
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Nathaniel Ward is the Editor of MyHeritage.org—a website for members and supporters of The Heritage Foundation.
