Writing in the Wall Street Journal (subscription), Senators Judd Gregg and Chuck Grassley, ranking minority members of the Senate Budget and Finance Committees, see a huge tax increase in the federal budget proposed by congressional Democrats.
Yesterday, the majority party unveiled its budget proposal to impose higher taxes on families and businesses in order to pay for more wasteful Washington spending.
Despite campaign promises not to raise taxes, the new majority party's budget fails to keep existing tax policies in place, which amounts to a $900 billion tax hike over five years, the largest tax increase ever. The Democrats may try to use smoke and mirrors to mask this increase, but it is there, and the real victims will be average Americans.
Under a Democratic budget that does not extend existing tax policies, the lowest-income families who pay taxes will see their taxes increase by 33%. The $1,000 per child tax credit would be cut in half, and the standard deduction for married couples would be cut by $1,700. Forty-five million working families with two children would pay $3,000 more in taxes per year, equivalent to a 5% pay cut. Three thousand dollars may not sound like a lot in Washington, but in New Hampshire and Iowa it pays for a year's worth of groceries, health-care expenses, home-heating oil or electricity...
Since 2003, more than seven million new jobs have been created -- and at 4.5%, the unemployment rate is below the average of the past three decades. The U.S. economy is experiencing five uninterrupted years of growth, and since the tax cuts of 2003, the rate of economic growth has more than doubled. Real wages and benefits have increased 7.5% under President George W. Bush compared to 6% under President Bill Clinton during the first six years of their respective presidencies.
This economic activity has triggered a surge in revenues into government coffers, exceeding projections from CBO by nearly $300 billion over the past three years. At 18.4% of GDP, federal revenues are currently surpassing the historical average. And by all accounts, revenue will continue to outpace expectations. Even when taking into account the extension of existing tax policies, revenues are expected to remain above the historical average.
Despite false accusations that tax relief has benefited only the top wage-earners, it is worth noting that high-income taxpayers bear a greater burden of the total tax payments now compared to the Clinton years. Meanwhile, existing tax policies have lowered the tax rate on low-income taxpayers to 10% from 15%, and those low-income individuals who pay no income tax currently receive more money back via the Earned Income Tax Credit than they did under the Clinton presidency.
(My emphasis above.)
The economic performance noted by the Senators is not really news. People are vaguely aware of it. Unfortunately, it's not news worthy of coverage by the mainstream press. This sort of news only gains MSM coverage when a Democrat resides in the White House. It's really quite odd, the rules for what qualifies as news.
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