Using Business Tax Cuts To Stimulate The Economy

Increased interest in providing business tax cuts to stimulate the economy has followed the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, which heightened concerns about an economic slowdown. Among the tax proposals discussed were a corporate rate cut and an investment subsidy; the final version of H.R. 3090 contained the latter: temporary partial expensing for equipment. A corporate rate cut is estimated to produce between one-third and two-thirds of the investment induced by an investment credit with an equivalent revenue loss. Temporary investment credit would be more effective than a permanent one, and a temporary investment credit could also be made incremental. These stock market calculations are overstated because they do not take into account the adjustment process and the possibility of interest rate increases.

It would be difficult to find a more heated topic in American political circles than tax cuts. Do they help the economy, the rich, or the middle class? Or do they harm the economy? Do the rich benefit the most and should they? Tax cuts are closely tied to the Tax Code which very few people truly understand. The new book tries to make sense out of this impenetrable jungle of issues, projections and actual tax cuts. Contents: Preface; Tax Cut Bills in 2003: A Comparison; Across-the-Board Tax Cuts: Economic Issues; Tax Cuts, the Business Cycle, and Economic Growth: A Macroeconomic Analysis; Using Business Tax Cuts to Stimulate the Economy; Tax Cuts and Economic Stimulus: How Effective Are the Alternatives?; Economic and Revenue Effects of Permanent and Temporary Capital Gains Tax Cuts; The Individual Alternative Minimum Tax: Interaction With Marriage Penalty Relief and Other Tax Cuts; Major Tax Issues; Index.

There is no consensus on how strongly the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) has stimulated U.S. private fixed investment. Some argue that the business tax provisions spurred investment by cutting the cost of capital. Others see the TCJA primarily as a windfall for shareholders. We find that U.S. business investment since 2017 has grown strongly compared to pre-TCJA forecasts and that the overriding factor driving it has been the strength of expected aggregate demand. Investment has, so far, fallen short of predictions based on the postwar relation with tax cuts. Model simulations and firm-level data suggest that much of this weaker response reflects a lower sensitivity of investment to tax policy changes in the current environment of greater corporate market power. Economic policy uncertainty in 2018 played a relatively small role in dampening investment growth.

The story of men who are hurting—and hurting America by their absence Man Out describes the millions of men on the sidelines of life in the United States. Many of them have been pushed out of the mainstream because of an economy and society where the odds are stacked against them; others have chosen to be on the outskirts of twenty-first-century America. These men are disconnected from work, personal relationships, family and children, and civic and community life. They may be angry at government, employers, women, and "the system" in general—and millions of them have done time in prison and have cast aside many social norms. Sadly, too many of these men are unsure what it means to be a man in contemporary society. Wives or partners reject them; children are estranged from them; and family, friends, and neighbors are embarrassed by them. Many have disappeared into a netherworld of drugs, alcohol, poor health, loneliness, misogyny, economic insecurity, online gaming, pornography, other off-the-grid corners of the internet, and a fantasy world of starting their own business or even writing the Great American novel. Most of the men described in this book are poorly educated, with low incomes and often with very few prospects for rewarding employment. They are also disproportionately found among millennials, those over 50, and African American men. Increasingly, however, these lost men are discovered even in tony suburbs and throughout the nation. It is a myth that men on the outer corners of society are only lower-middle-class white men dislocated by technology and globalization. Unlike those who primarily blame an unjust economy, government policies, or a culture sanctioning "laziness," Man Out explores the complex interplay between economics and culture. It rejects the politically charged dichotomy of seeing such men as either victims or culprits. These men are hurting, and in turn they are hurting families and hurting America. It is essential to address their problems. Man Out draws on a wide range of data and existing research as well as interviews with several hundred men, women, and a wide variety of economists and other social scientists, social service providers and physicians, and with employers, through a national online survey and in-depth fieldwork in several communities.

With reports of an economic downturn, support has been mounting for an additional tax cut this year to stimulate the economy. Regardless of the implications of tax levels and structure for equity, fairness, intergenerational debt burden, and the role and size of government, any tax reduction will affect the macroeconomy. In the short run, tax cuts that are funded through a reduced surplus increase aggregate demand and influence the business cycle if they are spent. If the economy is operating at full capacity, the boost in aggregate demand will quickly be dissipated through higher interest rates, inflation, and a larger trade deficit. If a tax cut is meant to prevent a recession by providing a short-term stimulus, its efficacy should be judged by how much spending (or dissaving) it generates. The efficacy of a tax cut that is meant to boost long-run growth should be judged by how much additional work, net saving, and investment it generates.