November 4, 2009
Investor’s Business Daily Editorial Highlights Tax Foundation Study on Closing Deficit with Higher Tax Rates
"Paying for Washington's Mistakes"
By Investor's Business Daily
Policymakers piled up a $1.4 trillion deficit for fiscal 2009. The figure is so high that if Congress were to use the income tax to balance the budget, rates would have to be nearly tripled. ...
While it's unlikely policymakers would try to use income tax revenues - which provide almost half of all federal revenues - to close the deficits, it's instructive to see how high the rates would have to go to do that. Data from the Tax Foundation show this Congress and administration are poor stewards of other people's money and are failing their constitutional duty to protect the future of the republic.
The biggest hit in a world in which Washington bridged the budget gap with income tax revenues would be, naturally, on those who have the largest incomes.
The rates for joint filers earning at least $373,601 would have to be almost tripled, from 35% to 95.2%, to help close the 2010 deficit. (See table.) Though the brackets are at different income levels, the rate progressions are the same for single filers.
