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The House GOP Budget Ignores the Evidence That Combating Inequality is Good for Economic Growth

March 19, 2015

By Tim Price

The budget proposal put forth by House Republicans this week has been roundly criticized as yet another attempt to enact massive tax cuts that would redistribute money to the top at the expense of middle- and low-income families. Republicans contend these cuts would pay for themselves by producing rapid economic growth, which would create the proverbial rising tide that lifts all boats. But this is the GOP’s same old so-called trickle-down economics with a fresh coat of we-care-about-the-middle-class paint. In reality, nonpartisan experts agree that policies that directly help low and middle-income families and reduce inequality are the real key to growth.

Here are the facts:

  • Inequality is holding back economic growth. A Standard & Poor’s report found that extreme inequality in the U.S. is a drag on growth. Due to that rising inequality, S&P revised the 10-year growth forecast for the U.S. down from 2.8 percent to 2.5 percent annually.
  • We don’t have to choose between equality and prosperity. Recent research thoroughly discredits Okun’s Law, the economic belief that there is a trade-off between equity and efficiency. In a 2014 report that analyzed historical data across multiple economies, the International Monetary Fund actually found that “the combined direct and indirect effects of redistribution – including the growth effects of lower inequality – are on average pro-growth.”
  • Taxing the rich won’t hurt the economy. Wealthy interests often claim that taxing them will slow growth, but the same IMF report found that “the best available macroeconomic data do not support that conclusion.”

Despite Republicans’ desire to portray themselves as protectors of the free market and the middle class, even these market-oriented organizations recognize that progressive, middle-class-friendly tax policy is better for the overall economy. Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow and Chief Economist Joseph Stiglitz has released a plan for reforming the tax code to promote equitable economic growth, and there will be more to come through the Roosevelt Institute’s Inequality Project as we continue to seek solutions to America’s growing inequality crisis.

Click here to read the Roosevelt Network’s response to the Republican budget.