The Future of Individual Tax Rates: Effects on Growth and DistributionDonald Marron The text below is an excerpt from the complete testimony. Read the full written testimony in PDF format.
Donald Marron's testimony before the Senate Committee on Finance on the individual tax system.
Chairman Baucus, Ranking Member Grassley, and Members of the Committee: Thank you for inviting me to appear today to discuss our individual income tax system.
As this committee knows well, our nation faces difficult economic and fiscal challenges. In the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the 1930s, almost 15 million workers are unemployed, about one-tenth of our work force. Almost 7 million of those workers have been unemployed for six months or longer. And millions more lack jobs but don't count in the statistics because they're too discouraged to look for work. Moderate economic growth is expected to lower those figures only gradually over the next few years.
At the same time, budget deficits have rocketed to 60-year highs because of the financial crisis, the weak economy, and subsequent policy responses. As a result, the federal debt has grown from about 40 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) at the end of 2008 to about 60 percent of GDP today, the highest since just after World War II.
Deficits should narrow in coming years as the economy recovers and as policy responses to the recession wind down. Our long-term fiscal outlook remains daunting, however, because of a fundamental imbalance between spending and revenues. Because of an aging population and rising health care costs, spending is expected to grow significantly faster than revenues over the next 25 years, pushing our nation deeper into debt.
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