ITEP Statement: Debt Deal Avoids the Elephant in the Room

Contact: Jon Whiten ([email protected])

STATEMENT OF AMY HANAUER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE INSTITUTE ON TAXATION AND ECONOMIC POLICY:

“It’s a relief to see that Congressional leaders and the President have come to an agreement to raise the debt limit and avert an economic disaster. But by instituting work requirements for critical assistance programs and rescinding important funding to crack down on wealthy tax cheats, this deal will rig the economy even more in favor of the most well-off Americans while failing to fix the real structural problems that led to the current debt crisis in the first place.

The deal avoids the elephant in the room: it includes no new revenues even though tax cuts of the past few decades were a primary driver of deficit growth. And next up, many Republican lawmakers want to double down by pushing through many more tax cuts that would most help wealthy families and corporations. They should do the opposite.

Lawmakers serious about preventing another debt fiasco such as this one must consider raising taxes. The good news is that there are lots of great options to do just that, including many in the President’s proposed budget. Revenue raisers targeted at wealthy people and corporations would make our nation’s tax code fairer and raise significant resources to fund our shared priorities.”

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