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Tax increase discussion among policymakers seems to be moving slowly, but ...
It's beginning to look less and less likely that progressives will get anything close to the tax hikes they desire.
McConnell says, of course, that he has 50 "hard no" votes against any of this, meaning that Senate Democrats have to agree with 100% unanimity on any proposed rate increases. And it appears that they don't.
Manchin, for instance, is on record as saying he won't go for higher than a 25% corporate tax rate. Added to the state taxes that many firms pay, that still put the U.S at the high end of the OECD range. Not as bad as the pre-2017 status quo ante, but not great.
And Schumer has said that he doesn't favor raising capital gains tax rates to a level higher than during the Clinton era. (Presumably he means the pre-1997 28% rate, although in that case the new rate would be 31.8% after adding in the 3.8% investment income surcharge investors have been stuck with for the last decade.)
Although policymakers should always consider second- and higher-order effects of all the bullshit they dream up, they rarely do.
Deadweight loss, for instance.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadweight_loss
https://corporatefinanceinstitute.co...adweight-loss/
One should consider the growth-impeding burden of deadweight loss when considering taxes, subsidies, wage and price controls, and regulatory actions.
Globally uncompetitive corporate tax rates incentivize shifting of activity to lower-tax jurisdictions, as we saw in the corporate inversion spree in the early-to-mid 2010s. That's one good example of deadweight loss.
Another is setting capital gains taxes so high that they not only fail to produce additional revenue, but at the same time inhibit the flow of investment capital to its highest and best uses. In such cases, what's called the "lock-in effect" arises, where investors may be inhibited from selling positions in mature or underperforming firms in order to redirect capital in more promising ways. A 43.4% capital gains tax would impede the free flow of capital and thus become a net negative for economic growth.
The dishonesty and disingenuity should be readily apparent when you consider how progressive politicians and media outlets are trying to peddle all this ridiculous nonsense to an uninformed public.
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