Sen. Charles Schumer (D., N.Y.) cited Tuesday an "impartial" Congressional Research Service report that says tax cuts on high earners and small businesses have little to no effect on economic growth--a report authored by a campaign donor to President Obama.
Schumer, speaking at the National Press Club on Tuesday about tax reform, used the report as a counter to Republican arguments for preserving the Bush tax rates:
SCHUMER: The tax rate for the highest earners should probably return to Clinton-era levels and stay somewhere around there. This will come as heresy to some of those on the other side who not only wish to extend the current rates in the upcoming lame duck, but also hope to cut rates even further in tax reform. These folks believe that cutting the top rate as low as 25 percent is a necessary ingredient to spur an economic recovery. But a Congressional Research analysis released last month suggests otherwise—and they’re impartial—in a survey of the last 65 years of fiscal policy in America, the report concluded that tax cuts "do not appear correlated with economic growth." Recent experience, of course, suggests we have nothing at all to fear from a return to Clinton-era levels.
The Washington Free Beacon reported last month that the report's author, Thomas L. Hungerford, has donated at least $3,400 to Obama and at least $2,450 to Democratic candidates and committees since 2008.