Attention Economy


Monday, March 15, 2021

US Fiscal Policy - Revenue Generation

White House Weighs How to Pay for Long-Term Economic Program
https://www.wsj.com/articles/white-house-weighs-how-to-pay-for-long-term-economic-program-11615714201

Biden Eyes First Major Tax Hike Since 1993 in Next Economic Plan
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-15/biden-eyes-first-major-tax-hike-since-1993-in-next-economic-plan
The following are among proposals currently planned or under consideration, according to the people, who asked not to be named as the discussions are private:
  • Raising the corporate tax rate to 28% from 21%
  • Paring back tax preferences for so-called pass-through businesses, such as limited-liability companies or partnerships
  • Raising the income tax rate on individuals earning more than $400,000
  • Expanding the estate tax’s reach
  • A higher capital-gains tax rate for individuals earning at least $1 million annually. (Biden on the campaign trail proposed applying income-tax rates, which would be higher)

Biden’s Planned Tax Hike to Hit People Earning Over $400,000 Hardest
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-03-15/biden-tax-hike-how-the-u-s-president-s-plan-could-affect-your-money

Yellen pushes global minimum tax as White House eyes new spending plan

TAXES AND GROWTH - INSIGHTS FROM ECONOMIC RESEARCH
The Truth About Taxes and Economic Growth
https://www.jstor.org/stable/40722179

What Do Cross-Country Studies Teach about Government Involvement, Prosperity, and Economic Growth? By Joel Slemrod
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/1995b_bpea_slemrod_gale_easterly.pdf
 
Effects of Income Tax Changes on Economic Growth
https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/09_Effects_Income_Tax_Changes_Economic_Growth_Gale_Samwick_.pdf

Quality of Government and Why It Truly Matters
https://www.milkenreview.org/articles/quality-of-government


Political Economy of Taxation - The Laffer Curve Debate
The Secret to America’s Low, Low Taxes
https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2019-12-06/the-u-s-isn-t-the-world-s-most-taxed-country-not-even-close
Privatize health care and run a big deficit and your country, too, can have low taxes.

Historical Perspective on 'Laffer Curve':
https://qz.com/895785/laffer-curve-everything-trump-and-republicans-get-wrong-about-trickle-down-economics-and-reaganomics/
Gwynn Guilford notes:
“Laffer’s supply-side logic served as the intellectual cornerstone for Reagan’s tax cuts, marking a turning point in conservative ideology. Up until this point, Republican orthodoxy was mostly focused on avoiding fiscal deficits. The GOP was even fine with raising taxes as long as the government covered its expenses. Economists and liberal politicians saw tax cuts as a way to tuck some extra cash into workers’ pockets, encouraging them to consume—which, in turn, boosted growth. But many old-school Republicans scoffed at Laffer’s trickle-down theories. The most famous example of this came during the GOP primary, when George H.W. Bush dubbed Reagan’s supply-side ideology “voodoo economics.””
 
Bruce Bartlett (served as domestic policy adviser to Reagan) on the Laffer Curve:
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2155974
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2155978
https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2155979