Tax Rates, Fairness, and Economic Growth: Lessons from the 1980s

Publication Date: October 1991

Publisher: Heritage Foundation (Washington, D.C.)

Author(s): Daniel J. Mitchell

Research Area: Economics

Keywords: Taxes

Type: Report

Abstract:

One year after a record tax and spending increase, the American economy is reeling. Two million Americans have lost their jobs, personal and business bankruptcies are at all time highs, and family incomes are falling. With little prospect of a strong recovery in the near future, policy makers are coming to realize that actions must be taken to jump-start the economy. A consensus is emerging that tax relief is necessary perhaps even the key-to restoring economic growth, but the proposals now before Congress rely on radically different approaches to the problem.