National Journal asks Is Obama's Tax Plan A Good Recession-Fighting Stimulus?

John Maggs with National Journal's Economic Experts blog posed this question to myself and the other regular contributors -- after President-elect Obama suggested that he would continue with his campaign tax plan, which would involve cutting taxes for most taxpayers and raising them for those earning more than $250,000 a year (a threshold he recently suggested might be lowered to $150,000.) His proposal also involved cutting capital gains taxes for lower-income earners but raising them for others. Assuming that the tax cuts would be speeded up via rebate, how does the Obama plan rate as a stimulus measure? Would raising taxes at the high end during a recession be a bad idea?

Here's my take:

President-elect-Obama's twin tax policy goals of middle class relief and economic growth are admirable but here are a small suggestion and a big one to stir the pot. What does the middle class want? One thing they don't want is to see their hard-earned savings for a rainy day, a first home, their kids' college educations and all their retirement savings taxed and taxed several times more, which our current tax code does. "Gimme back my nest egg" is a common plea of many in the middle class. How about in the short term cutting the capital gains tax to encourage people during the stock market meltdown to buy into the market rather than to sell, thereby boosting stock values and nest eggs and restoring investor confidence?

Once we have in place a necessary fiscal stimulus package and get our economy growing again, how about tackling one of our fundamental economic imbalance -- too much consumption and not enough national saving -- by switching from an income to a consumption tax base? Tax the spendthrift, whether he be Joe the Plumber, James the Wall Street financier, or Gigi in Hollywood, who spend on gas-guzzling SUVs, bragging rights for having the largest yachts ever or owning a castle on the French Rivera and instead reward -- don't tax -- those who save in a college savings account, provide the capital for a new biotech cancer saving drug and underwrite an AIDS prevention documentary. "Yes, we can" address our short-term economic woes and set the stage for long term US economic growth, job creation and competitiveness.