How do high taxes on the wealthy impact an economy?
The wealthy in a society are the people who do two things: Author, Commentator and President of The King's College, Dinesh D'Souza |
An economy suffers when money is taken from a rich person and sent to the government because this is the very money that the rich would have otherwise used to fund the growth of their own or other people's businesses which in turn creates jobs for a population. The premise behind taxing the rich is that society as a whole will be better off when this money is transferred into the hands of the government but there is absolutely no historical data to suggest that this is true. All of the available evidence shows the opposite to be true - that private individuals and businesses are far more effective at creating businesses and jobs with their own money than government is. Economist, investment advisor, author and commentator, Peter Schiff |
The wealthy don’t simply horde their money, or bury it in the ground, they invest it in such a way that all of society benefits, by producing products and services that people want which then creates jobs which people need. An obvious example of this is Apple Inc.’s Steve Jobs who started with a single idea which lead to more ideas which have now produced directly and indirectly not just money for himself, but countless jobs and technology for the entire world. President of the Center for Urban Renewal and Education, Star Parker |
Many mistakenly assume that taxing the wealthy hurts only the wealthy, but the effects actually ripple throughout the economy. When the rich have less money to spend and invest, that means fewer customers and less capital for businesses, and fewer jobs for the rest of us. And of course, many of those who are demeaned “rich” through the tax code are actually small businesses. When these small businesses are hit with high taxes, they have to cut other costs (for example, by employing fewer people) or raise prices. Independent Women's Forum director and Goldwater Institute senior fellow, Carrie Lukas |
The way in which taxes on the wealthy impact a society depends on how high the taxes are. At some point, if taxes become too high, they become a disincentive for people to do additional work, because the additional value that is earned from that work is diminished. The point at which this happens, however, changes over time. This principle, nevertheless, is not exclusive to the wealthy, it’s actually a basic principle that affects everyone. The only reason that we apply it more often to the wealthy is because in our graduated, or progressive tax system, they’re the ones who are most likely to reach the point where there’s some disincentive. Contributing editor of City Journal and Manhattan Institute senior fellow, Steven Malanga |
“High taxes on the wealthy” is a political public relations talking point. In reality taxes that are raised on the “so-called rich” hurt a wide range of small business owners, and stifle job creation. There are numerous myths surrounding the burden of taxes that the wealthy shoulder; one of the most popular destinations on NTU’s website is "Who Pays Income Taxes?" which many people find to be a real eye-opener. But even by other measurements, the wealthy bear a huge amount of the tax load, often to the detriment of our economy. Vice President of the National Taxpayers Union, Pete Sepp |
It depends on how one defines "high". During the 1960s, top marginal rates in the United States were 90 percent and the economy grew strongly boneless. (Effective rates were somewhat lower). Conversely, the top rate in the 2000s was 35 percent and the economy grew slowly. When President Clinton and the Democrats raised taxes in 1993, Republicans all predicted the economy would stall. But the tax hike did nothing to dampen the tech boom. There is little or no evidence that high taxes on the wealthy--if high is defined as under 40 percent top rate--do anything to harm entrepreneurship or wealth creation. Author, commentator and lead Bloomberg View columnist, Jonathan Alter |
Every job I've ever had came from a rich person, so I'm not sure how punitively punishing the very people who provide jobs will create more of them. |