Republican U.S. presidential candidates in the debate held by Fox Business Network for the top 2016 U.S. Republican presidential candidates in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, November 10, 2015. REUTERS/Jim Young.
From my new column in the Financial Times:
The Republican Party’s raison d’être is cutting taxes. It may even be its divine commission. God put Republicans on earth to cut taxes, the conservative columnist, Robert Novak, once said, and failure to do that means “they have no useful function”.
Republicans should pray for a new purpose. Their standing with middle-class voters is little improved from 2012. If Hillary Clinton becomes the 45th US president, it would be the first time since 1948 that the Republicans have lost three consecutive elections. Their “supply-side” orthodoxy would merit much of the blame. Big tax cuts, particularly for the wealthiest, do not work in an age of high inequality and heavy debt. Republicans need an economic agenda that respects markets while also recognising the challenges facing America and its anxious middle class. …
Supply-side economics, primarily tax cuts but also deregulation and tight monetary policy, has driven Republican economics for decades, to great electoral success. But there are good reasons to view the next election as a last hurrah for Republican-style supply-side policy.
What can be done?
America does need “supply-side” reform, but in ways that sync with how most economists use the term: expanding labour supply and boosting worker productivity. This would include business tax and regulatory fixes, but also policies to which Republican supply-siders give short shrift, such as education reform and public investment in infrastructure and science research.
There are signs candidates are starting to wriggle out of the supply-side straitjacket. At this week’s Republican presidential debate in Wisconsin, Marco Rubio said a larger tax credit for families was just as important as tax cuts for business. Ted Cruz would institute a value added tax, an efficient way to boost revenue for old-age programmes. While 1980s-style supply-side doctrine still rules the Republican roost, it may not beyond November 2016.
from AEI » Latest Content http://ift.tt/1Pqd8Kf
0 التعليقات:
Post a Comment