Carlos Barria/Reuters
Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.
"Ask five economists," as the Edgar Fiedler adage goes, "and you'll get five different answers."
Yet, when it comes to the tax reform package aimed at fixing our broken system, the undersigned have but one shared perspective: Economic growth will accelerate if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passes, leading to more jobs, higher wages, and a better standard of living for the American people. If, however, the bill fails, the United States risks continued economic underperformance.
In today's globalized economy, capital is mobile in its pursuit of lower tax jurisdictions. Yet, in that worldwide race for job-creating investment, America is not economically competitive. Here's why: Left virtually untouched for the last 31 years, our chart-topping corporate tax rate is the highest in the industrialized world and a full fifteen percentage points above the OECD average. As a result of forfeiting our competitive edge, we forfeited 4,700 companies from 2004 to 2016 to cheaper shores abroad. As a result of sitting idly by while the rest of the world took steps to lower their corporate rates, we lowered our own workers' wages by thousands of dollars a year.
Our colleagues from across the ideological spectrum - regardless of whether they ultimately support or oppose the current plan - recognize the record-setting rate at which the United States taxes job-creating businesses is, either significantly or entirely, a burden borne by the workers they employ. The question isn't whether American workers are hurt by our country's corporate tax rate - it's how badly. As such, the question isn't whether workers will be helped by a corporate tax rate reduction - it's how much.
The enactment of a comprehensive overhaul - complete with a lower corporate tax rate - will ignite our economy with levels of growth not seen in generations. A twenty percent statutory rate on a permanent basis would, per the Council of Economic Advisers, help produce a GDP boost "by between 3 and 5 percent." As the debate delves into deficit implications, it is critical to consider that $1 trillion in new revenue for the federal government can be generated by four-tenths of a percentage in GDP growth.
Sophisticated economic models show the macroeconomic feedback generated by the TCJA will exceed that amount - more than enough to compensate for the static revenue loss. We firmly believe that a competitive corporate rate is the key to an economic engine driven by greater investment, capital stock, business formation, and productivity - all of which will yield more jobs and higher wages. Your vote throughout the weeks ahead will therefore put more money in the pockets of more workers.
Supporting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will ensure that those workers - those beneficiaries - are American.
Sincerely,
James C. Miller III
Former OMB Director, 1985-88
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
American Action Forum
Alexander Katkov
Johnson & Wales University
Ali M. Reza
San Jose State U (Emeritus)
Ann E. Sherman
DePaul University
Anthony B. Sanders
George Mason University
Anthony Negbenebor
Gardner-Webb University
Arthur Havenner
University of California, Davis
Austin J. Jaffe
Penn State University
Barry W. Poulson
University of Colorado
Boyd D, Collier
Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University System (Emeritus)
Brian Stuart Wesbury
Joint Economic Committee
Carlisle E. Moody
College of William and Mary
Charles W. Calomiris
Columbia University
Christine P. Ries
Georgia Institute of Technology
Christopher C. Barnekov
FCC (Retired)
Christopher Lingle Universidad Francisco Marroquin
Clifford F. Thies
Shenandoah University
Daniel Fernandez Universidad Francisco Marroquin
Daniel Houser
George Mason University
David H. Resler
Chief US Economist, Nomura (Retired)
David Ranson
HCWE & Co.
Dennis E. Logue Steven Roth Professor, (Emeritus) Tuck School, Dartmouth Colleges
Derek Tittle
Georgia Institute of Technology
DeVon L. Yoho
Economist Ball State University (Retired)
Donald J. Oswald California State University, Bakersfield (Retired)
Donald Koch
Koch Investments
Donald L. Alexander
Western Michigan University
Donald Luskin
TrendMacro
Douglas C Frechtling
George Washington University
Douglas Kahl
The University of Akron
Douglas O. Cook
The University of Alabama
Kingdon Hurlock Jr.
Calvert Investment Counsel
Edward M. Scahill
University of Scranton
Eleanor Craig
University of Delaware
Owen Irvine Michigan State University (Emeritus)
Farhad Rassekh
University of Hartford
Francis Ahking
University of Connecticut
Frank Falero
California State University (Emeritus)
Gary R. Skoog
Legal Econometrics, Inc.
Gary Wolfram
Hillsdale College
Gene Simpson
NPTC, Auburn University
George Langelett
South Dakota State University
Gerald P. Dwyer
Clemson University
Gil Sylvia
University of Georgia
H Daniel Foster
HDFCO
Hugo J. Faria
University of Miami
Inayat Mangla
Western Michigan University
J. Edward Graham
UNC Wilmington
Jagdish Bhagwati
Columbia University
James B Kau
University of Georgia
James C.W. Ahiakpor California State University, East Bay
James D. Adams
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
James D. Miller
Smith College
James F. Smith
EconForecaster, LLC
James Keeler
Kenyon College
James M. Mulcahy SUNY - Buffalo economics department
James Moncur
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Jeffrey Dorfman
University of Georgia
Jerold Zimmerman
University of Rochester
Jody Lipford
Presbyterian College
John A. Baden
Chm., Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE)
John C. Moorhouse Wake Forest University (Emeritus)
John D. Johnson
Utah State University
John H McDermott
University of South Carolina
John McArthur
Wofford College
John P. Eleazarian
American Economic Association
John Ruggiero
University of Dayton
John Semmens
Laissez Faire Institute
Joseph A. Giacalone
St. John's University, NY
Joseph Haslag University of Missouri- Columbia
Joseph S. DeSalvo University of South Florida - Tampa
Joseph Zoric Franciscan University of Steubenville
Kathleen B. Cooper
SMU's John Tower Center for Politico Science
Kenneth V. Greene Binghamton University (Emeritus)
Lawrence Benveniste Goizueta Business School, Emory University
Lawrence R. Cima
John Carroll University
Leon Wegge
University of California, Davis
Lloyd Cohen
Scalia Law School
Lucjan Orlowski
Sacred Heart University
Lydia Ortega
San Jose State University
M. Northrup Buechner
St. John's University, New York
Maurice MacDonald
Kansas State University
Michael A. Morrisey
Texas A&M University
Michael Connolly
University of Miami
Michael D Brendler Louisiana State University Shreveport.
Michael L. Marlow
Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo
Moheb A. Ghali
Western Washington University
Nancy Roberts
Arizona State University
Nasser Duella
California State University, Fullerton
Nicolas Sanchez
College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA (Emeritus,)
Norman Lefton
Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville
Paul H Rubin
Emory University
Pavel Yakovlev
Duquesne University
Pedro Piffaut
Columbia University
Peter E. Kretzmer
Bank of America
Peter S. Yun
UVAWISE (Emeritus)
Phillip J. Bryson Brigham Young University (Emeritus)
R. Ashley Lyman
University of Idaho
R. L. Promboin
University of Maryland University College (former)
Richard J. Cebula
Jacksonville University
Richard Kilmer
University of Florida
Richard Timberlake
Prof. of Econ., Univ. of Ga. (Retired)
Richard Vedder
Ohio University
Robert B Helms
American Enterprise Institute (Retired)
Robert F Stauffer
Roanoke College , (Emeritus)
Robert H. Topel
University of Chicago Booth School of Business
Robert Heller
Former Governor, Federal Reserve Board
Robert Sauer
Royal Holloway University
Robert Tamura
Clemson University
Roger Meiners
University of Texas-Arlington
Sanjai Bhagat
University of Colorado Boulder
Scott Hein
Texas Tech University
Seth Bied
New York State Tax Department
Stan Liebowitz
University of Texas
Stephen Happel
Arizona State University
T. Craig Tapley
University of Florida
Thomas H. Mayor
University of Houston
Thomas J Kniesner
Claremont Graduate University
Thomas M. Stoker
MIT (retired)
Thomas Saving
Texas A&M University
Timothy Mathews
Kennesaw State University
Tomi Ovaska
Youngstown State University
Tony Lima
California State University, East Bay
Victor a Canto
La Jolla economics
Vijay Singal
Navrang Inc
Wallace Hendricks
University of Illinois
Ward S. Curran Trinity College Hartford Connecticut (Emeritus)
Wayne T. Brough
FreedomWorks Foundation
William B. Fairley
Analysis & Inference, Inc.
William Buchanan
Valdosta State University
William McKillop
Resource Economics (Emeritus)
William R. Allen UCLA Department of Economics
William S. Peirce Case Western Reserve University
Wim Vijverberg
CUNY Graduate Center
Xuepeng Liu
Kennesaw State University
Yuri N. Maltsev
A.W. Clausen Center for World Business, Carthage College