NEWS FLASH

Private Sector Economists: Lawmakers Should Raise Taxes To Fix Deficit | Republican lawmakers consistently insist that new revenue should not be a part of deficit reduction, on the premise that such a move would hurt private sector job creation. Private sector economists, however, disagree. A new National Association for Business Economics (NABE) poll found that “three-quarters of economists who do forecasting for the private sector say tax revenue should rise as a part of efforts to tame unsustainable budget deficits.” Of the 250 business economists who participated in the survey, only 19 percent said tax reform should be done in a “revenue-neutral” way. Indeed, a majority of these economists argued that part of the deficit challenge “stems from low tax revenue.” Revenues are currently at a 60-year low.