How To Keep An Economy Down

-By From US Congressman Peter Roskam

If you haven’t been paying attention to the tax cut debate yet, you need to take a few minutes to find out how Democrat Leaders in Congress are set to deliver a one-two punch to the American public in the form of higher taxes on families and small businesses. At this time of economic uncertainty and sluggish growth, an across-the-board tax increase on families and individuals promises to keep the economy on its knees.

Starting January 1, 2011, new tax rates will kick in across the board, raising taxes on American families and small businesses by a staggering $3.8 trillion, from those in the lowest tax bracket and continuing all the way up the economic ladder. The Tax Foundation, a non-partisan, independent research organization estimates that an average family of the Sixth Congressional District will see their income taxes increase $1,972. At a time when many Americans are struggling to make ends meet, this misguided policy will take more money out of the pockets of individuals in order to fuel more of the wasteful government spending that is on track to triple our national debt.

Under current law, the lowest tax bracket, at 10%, will be eliminated. That rate will rise to 15%, costing almost 100 million families who can ill-afford it an extra $500 in taxes next year. Similar increases will affect each of the other marginal tax rates, all the way up to a top effective personal income tax rate of 41.6%. Just as troubling for many families will be the reinstatement of the marriage penalty and cuts to the child tax credit.

According to the non-partisan Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), Congress’s official scorekeeper, reinstating the marriage penalty will cost 35 million married couples an average of $595 in higher federal taxes in 2011. The same study finds that cutting the child tax credit in half, which is scheduled to take place automatically on the first day of 2011, will cost 31 million families over $1,000 in higher taxes next year. Raising taxes on parents and married couples is no way to jump start our flagging economy. Giving the federal government more rope with which to hang itself will only lead to the further wasting of your hard-earned dollars…

Read the rest of Congressman Roskam’s piece at Points and Figures


Copyright Publius Forum 2001