Bloomberg: Let the Bush Tax Cuts Expire

Mayor Bloomberg may have a mysterious hatred of protesters, but he has a sensible position on Federal taxes:

Now – on the other side of the aisle: We need Republicans to accept the fact that we have a serious revenue problem, which brings me to the second key principle that I believe can lead us to a pro-growth deficit deal: All income groups have to be part of the solution.

It’s fair to ask those who earn more to bear more of the burden – that’s the whole idea behind a graduated income tax. But all of us should help carry the load – and there is actually a very straightforward and achievable way to do that: Allow the Bush tax cuts to expire at the end of 2012, not just for high-income earners, as the President has proposed, but for all tax brackets.

Along with accepting the cuts in Simpson-Bowles, allowing the tax cuts to expire is the other key step that it’s time to take. . . .

Opponents will yell and scream about taxes and cuts destroying the economy. But the same people said the same thing in 1993, when President Clinton and Congress adopted those rates as part of a major deficit reduction plan. And I think everyone would agree that turned out pretty well.

Incomes taxes here in the United States are lower than in most of the developed countries we compete with, and if we return to the Clinton era rates, they’ll still be lower. So there would be no disincentive for foreign entrepreneurs to come and create businesses and jobs here.