Most people don’t understand that taxes are at a historical low. And As Bruce Bartlett points out…not only is America a low tax country….40% of the Obama stimulus was tax cuts targeted to the working class. The stimulus was necessary…it’s only problem was that it wasn’t big enough. And now … there are some who would like to pass more tax cuts for the rich….but as Bruce Bartlett says – that’s not going to do anything for unemployment.
“There is simply no evidence that cutting taxes at the present time will do anything to raise employment.”
~Bruce Barlett
Bruce Bartlett decides to put the math out there for all to see…to disprove the canard that Americans are taxed heavily – article HERE:
The making-work-pay tax credit consumed some 40 percent of the budgetary cost of the 2009 stimulus package and reduced taxes for every person or household with a positive income-tax liability and an income below $75,000 in 2009 and 2010. In 2011 and 2012, the making-work-pay credit was replaced by a temporary 2 percent cut in the payroll tax rate, reducing taxes for every worker.
The reason that unemployment is high clearly has nothing to do with taxes. Consequently, there is no reason to think that reducing taxes further will do anything to raise employment by reducing the tax wedge.
Additional evidence on this point comes from a new study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development on taxes paid by average workers in its 34 member countries. The data below are for a single worker without children.
