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Republicans Squash Nonpartisan Report That Debunks Tax Mythology
Congressional Research Service Report On Tax Cuts For Wealthy Suppressed By GOP
The New York Times reported on Thursday that Senate Republicans applied pressure to the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service (CRS) in September, successfully persuading it to withdraw a report finding that lowering marginal tax rates for the wealthiest Americans had no effect on economic growth or job creation. "The pressure applied to the research service comes amid a broader Republican effort to raise questions about research and statistics that were once trusted as nonpartisan and apolitical," the Times reported. Democrats in Congress, however, have resurfaced the report and published it in full. It can be read below.
Republicans told the Times they had issues with the tone, wording and scope of the report, but they clearly objected most strongly to its findings, which undermine the governing fiscal philosophy of the party, that tax cuts for the wealthy will spur growth and benefit everybody. GOP officials told The Times that the decision by the CRS came after a cooperative discussion, but Democrats have suggested that the move is part of a broader effort by Republicans to squelch legitimate research that runs counter to their economic principles.
The CRS report, by researcher Thomas Hungerford, concluded:
The results of the analysis suggest that changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.
However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution. As measured by IRS data, the share of income accruing to the top 0.1% of U.S. families increased from 4.2% in 1945 to 12.3% by 2007 before falling to 9.2% due to the 2007-2009 recession. At the same time, the average tax rate paid by the top 0.1% fell from over 50% in 1945 to about 25% in 2009. Tax policy could have a relation to how the economic pie is slicedlower top tax rates may be associated with greater income disparities.
Read the study PDF :
http://www.dpcc.senate.gov/files/documents/CRSTaxesandtheEconomy%20Top%20Rates.pdf
Rep. Sandy Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the Ways and Means Committee, demanded the CRS explain its decision. "The impartial research and advice provided by CRS experts informs and strengthens the work of Congress. However, this valuable role hinges on the impartiality of CRS analysts and their freedom from political pressure. As with other non-partisan institutions, subjecting CRS analysts to political considerations undermines the legislative process and the American peoples trust in it," Levin wrote in a letter to CRS. "Therefore I was deeply disturbed to hear that Mr. Hungerfords report was taken down in response to political pressure from Congressional Republicans who had ideological objections to the reports factual findings and conclusion."
cont
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/01/congressional-research-service_n_2059156.html
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rbrnmw
(7,160 posts)please don't spring a pic of Yertle on me without due warning!!! that shit isn't even right!!!!!
Segami
(14,923 posts)...".. lowering marginal tax rates for the wealthiest Americans had no effect on economic growth or job creation....".. BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
...."...The richest Americans are the least likely to spend extra money they get as a result of a tax cut, and are more likely to save it or invest it offshore...."..BWHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
Segami
(14,923 posts)A-Schwarzenegger
(15,650 posts)Last edited Fri Nov 2, 2012, 03:39 AM - Edit history (1)
If you break down any matter, you find out
that it is made up of non-matter, or pure
energy, motional quasms, reverse darkness, etc.
It's the same with math. On the surface, math is
made out of numbers. But if you break down any
number, no matter how big or solid seeming, you
discover it's made out of non-number stuff, which you
can then examine to determine what parts are useful
to your particular search for a more useful fact, truth,
etc., based on the new numbers. Or do you think numbers
are made out of number atoms? Of course not.
Likewise, if you break down any fact, you
find out that it is made out of non-facts, or
things that are neutral, objective, pale stuff
that is neither fact nor fowl. When we reach that
level, then we are calm and detached enough to
begin a true scientific analysis. In fact, science
itself is built of non-science things, assumptions, etc.
Once you break a fact down to that sub-level, you
can separate it out on the table, and
pick out the non-facts that are most important
and relevant, then put them back together
in a way that is more useful and interesting. If you
have non-interesting or non-useful facts, what good
are they? Or do you think there are such things as fact
atoms that cannot be broken down further to a handleable
level? No.
Therefore, in order to avoid the contentiousness
that matter, facts, and numbers can bring between
people, you can break them down to a neutral
level where we can agree to be calmed by breaking
things down, and peaceful, and can only nod at
whatever conclusion is reached based on the new
numbers and fresh facts.