The cost of the progressive agenda exceeds what could be raised in taxes. David Burton writes:
It is arithmetically impossible to pay for progressive promises by “taxing the rich.” Progressive promises are too expensive, and the amount of income earned by the rich is too small. Even using lower cost estimates, confiscating every dollar earned by every taxpayer with incomes of $200,000 or more would only pay for about half of the progressive agenda. And that figure is based on the false assumption that people would continue to work, save, and invest when subject to a 100 percent flat tax. The reality is that progressive promises can only be funded by radical tax increases on the middle class or, for a limited time, dramatic increases in federal borrowing.
Even in the fantasy world where all income of those earning $200,000 or more and all corporate profits were confiscated and yet those individuals and businesses continued to earn the same income, the progressive program still comes up $13.2 trillion to $57.8 trillion short. To fund the lower cost-estimate shortfall, it would be necessary to increase middle-income taxes by $13.2 trillion to three times their current level (an increase of 216 percent). To fund the higher cost-estimate shortfall, it would be necessary to increase middle-income taxes by $57.8 trillion to 10.5 times their current level (an increase of 948 percent). In the real world, the necessary middle-income tax increases would be radically more since the hypothetical $27 trillion from a 100 percent flat tax will never materialize. Only a small fraction of it can be raised from taxing high-income taxpayers.
[David Burton, “It Is Arithmetically Impossible to Fund the Progressive Agenda by Taxing the Rich,” The Heritage Foundation, August 14]
