Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Is proposed tax plan a game-changer for the economy?

As the Republicans and Democrats agree on a bi-partisan tax plan, many foresee this compromise as wholly beneficial to the economy. The plan primarily deals with tax cuts, which are now either the same as the Bush tax cuts or have been cut even further across the board. Several small business owners have held back on spending recently in anticipation of tax increases, so the new of a tax cut may help stimulate investment. Some economists see this as something that will most likely improve economic recovery over the next year while others are wary about how much consumers will spend regardless of the tax cuts. This method of fiscal policy works in concert with the recent monetary policy of QE2. In simplest terms, I see this fiscal policy as aiming to stimulate consumption and investment, which would shift the LM curve and is also what the economy truly needs at this point.

1 comment:

  1. The debate over extending the tax cuts has been going on for quite sometime and I think extending the cuts is the right thing to do. Anthony, you are right that this fiscal policy stimulates consumption and investment but it will actually move the IS curve to the right (up) not the LM curve. Only monetary policy can move the LM curve. Hopefully with QE2 and the tax cut extension will move the intersection of the LM and IS curves to a positive real interest rate, or at least closer to zero than we are now.

    ReplyDelete