January 2, 2013
A former chief of staff to the U.S. Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, UVa Law professor and tax policy expert expresses concern and disappointment about the fiscal cliff deal that was made.
"I think we should all be very disappointed with our political leaders," George Yin said.
On a scale from one to ten, with one being 'horrible', Yin says this fiscal cliff deal is a zero.
"It doesn't address either the most immediate economic problem in the country, which is the slow growth and high unemployment," he said. "And it also exacerbates the longer term economic problem which is the deficits and the debt."
So who will actually feel the affects of the bill? Yin says besides our children, every working American will feel a 2% increase in taxes.
"What that would mean is for somebody making roughly $50,000 a year, about $1,000 a week, they will have to pay about $20 more in taxes from each paycheck."
It will also affect those who are unemployed because part of the bill extends unemployment insurance benefits.
"People who are unemployed receiving those benefits and are about to run out, they get a little bit of relief. That's about the only effect the bill has on people today."
He says the tax structure this bill puts in place is not sustainable which also does not help the nation's debt situation.
"It just makes it that much more difficult that we'll never have any chance to increase revenues to reduce that debt," Yin said.
He says only a very tiny sliver of the population is making a sacrifice and since no one else is, he says all of this will fall on the backs of our children and we will probably see more fiscal cliffs almost immediately.
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