Debt Conversation Brings More Pointless ‘Tax-the-Rich’ Talk

 There still isn’t enough income earned by rich people to pay down next year’s deficit, let alone the deficits in the next 10 years.

From increasing the marginal tax rate to more than 70 percent for higher-income earners, to taxing 100 percent of income above $1 billion, to the president's recent debt-ceiling plan, Democrats overflow with ideas about how to tax us more.

Let's be clear: America's debt problem isn't the result of former President Donald Trump's tax cuts.

As the Cato Institute's Adam Michel reminded Congress recently, "It's new spending that drives the deficit. For example, President Biden has added about $5 trillion in unnecessary spending to the national debt. That's more than three times the 10?year revenue reduction of the 2017 tax cuts." Trump was no better.

The Tax Foundation meanwhile calculated that "If the U.S. taxed personal income in the same way that Denmark does, all income over $82,000 would be taxed at over 55%.".

Regardless of how they justify a tax hike, when politicians get their hands on more revenue, they often use it to spend more.

Finally, changes in taxes, especially in marginal tax rates, have a broader and overlooked effect on the skills and earning power of workers, as well as on overall labor-market efficiency.

A few years ago, Aparna Mathur, Sita Slavov, and Michael Strain showed that in the long term, a more progressive tax system reduces the incentives to accumulate human capital.

https://spectator.org/surprise-debt-conversation-brings-more-pointless-tax-the-rich-talk/