November 14, 2011
The NYT reported that the supercommittee remains deadlocked on taxes. It reports that Republicans are willing to agree to $250-$300 billion in tax increases by eliminating loopholes in exchange for reducing the top tax rate to 28 percent instead of allowing it to rise back to the Clinton era level of 39.6 percent. While the piece notes that this would be a windfall for high income taxpayers, it would have been worth reminding readers that the sums being proposed are less than 2 percent of the projected $17 trillion adjusted gross income of the richest 1 percent over the next decade. By contrast, there is bi-partisan support for cutting the annual Social Security cost of living adjustment by an amount that would reduce average benefits by close to 3 percent.
The piece including comments from Morgan Stanley director Erskine Bowles without identifying his association with the giant Wall Street bank.
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