A conservative anti-tax advocate is panning a reported plan from White House adviser Steve Bannon to raise the tax rates on the wealthiest Americans.
“It’s a particularly cruel thing for Bannon to do,” said Grover Norquist, president of the conservative group Americans for Tax Reform, on CNN on Monday.
Norquist claimed tax cuts would lead to more jobs and that increases would hurt growth.
“It might make somebody feel good to know that somebody else is paying higher taxes,” he said. “That’s a cruel thing to do when you’re hurting somebody.”
Twitter users called him out over his use of the word “cruel,” but Norquist stuck to his guns.
“End the cruelty,” he wrote in another post.
While conservatives such as Norquist tend to believe that tax cuts on the wealthy and corporations create jobs, the real-world data is far less certain.
NPR reported in 2015 that in the right circumstances, certain types of tax cuts combined with cuts in unproductive spending could stimulate the economy.
However, it’s far from a sure thing. The network also noted that a 2012 report from the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service found no link between top tax rates and economic growth over the previous 65 years.
Norquist’s concern may be moot: The Weekly Standard reports that Bannon’s reported plan to increase taxes is not going anywhere.
“We’re beyond that,” a senior official was quoted as saying.
(H/T Mediaite)
