An open letter to Congress from over 100 economists: Pass tax reform and watch the economy roar

Carlos Barria/Reuters

Paul Ryan and Donald Trump.

"Ask five economists," as the Edgar Fiedler adage goes, "and you'll get five different answers."

Yet, when it comes to the tax reform package aimed at fixing our broken system, the undersigned have but one shared perspective: Economic growth will accelerate if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act passes, leading to more jobs, higher wages, and a better standard of living for the American people. If, however, the bill fails, the United States risks continued economic underperformance.

In today's globalized economy, capital is mobile in its pursuit of lower tax jurisdictions. Yet, in that worldwide race for job-creating investment, America is not economically competitive. Here's why: Left virtually untouched for the last 31 years, our chart-topping corporate tax rate is the highest in the industrialized world and a full fifteen percentage points above the OECD average. As a result of forfeiting our competitive edge, we forfeited 4,700 companies from 2004 to 2016 to cheaper shores abroad. As a result of sitting idly by while the rest of the world took steps to lower their corporate rates, we lowered our own workers' wages by thousands of dollars a year.

Our colleagues from across the ideological spectrum - regardless of whether they ultimately support or oppose the current plan - recognize the record-setting rate at which the United States taxes job-creating businesses is, either significantly or entirely, a burden borne by the workers they employ. The question isn't whether American workers are hurt by our country's corporate tax rate - it's how badly. As such, the question isn't whether workers will be helped by a corporate tax rate reduction - it's how much.

The enactment of a comprehensive overhaul - complete with a lower corporate tax rate - will ignite our economy with levels of growth not seen in generations. A twenty percent statutory rate on a permanent basis would, per the Council of Economic Advisers, help produce a GDP boost "by between 3 and 5 percent." As the debate delves into deficit implications, it is critical to consider that $1 trillion in new revenue for the federal government can be generated by four-tenths of a percentage in GDP growth.

Sophisticated economic models show the macroeconomic feedback generated by the TCJA will exceed that amount - more than enough to compensate for the static revenue loss. We firmly believe that a competitive corporate rate is the key to an economic engine driven by greater investment, capital stock, business formation, and productivity - all of which will yield more jobs and higher wages. Your vote throughout the weeks ahead will therefore put more money in the pockets of more workers.

Supporting the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will ensure that those workers - those beneficiaries - are American.

Sincerely,

James C. Miller III

Former OMB Director, 1985-88

Douglas Holtz-Eakin

American Action Forum

Alexander Katkov

Johnson & Wales University

Ali M. Reza

San Jose State U (Emeritus)

Ann E. Sherman

DePaul University

Anthony B. Sanders

George Mason University

Anthony Negbenebor

Gardner-Webb University

Arthur Havenner

University of California, Davis

Austin J. Jaffe

Penn State University

Barry W. Poulson

University of Colorado

Boyd D, Collier

Tarleton State University, Texas A&M University System (Emeritus)

Brian Stuart Wesbury

Joint Economic Committee

Carlisle E. Moody

College of William and Mary

Charles W. Calomiris

Columbia University

Christine P. Ries

Georgia Institute of Technology

Christopher C. Barnekov

FCC (Retired)

Christopher Lingle Universidad Francisco Marroquin

Clifford F. Thies

Shenandoah University

Daniel Fernandez Universidad Francisco Marroquin

Daniel Houser

George Mason University

David H. Resler

Chief US Economist, Nomura (Retired)

David Ranson

HCWE & Co.

Dennis E. Logue Steven Roth Professor, (Emeritus) Tuck School, Dartmouth Colleges

Derek Tittle

Georgia Institute of Technology

DeVon L. Yoho

Economist Ball State University (Retired)

Donald J. Oswald California State University, Bakersfield (Retired)

Donald Koch

Koch Investments

Donald L. Alexander

Western Michigan University

Donald Luskin

TrendMacro

Douglas C Frechtling

George Washington University

Douglas Kahl

The University of Akron

Douglas O. Cook

The University of Alabama

Kingdon Hurlock Jr.

Calvert Investment Counsel

Edward M. Scahill

University of Scranton

Eleanor Craig

University of Delaware

Owen Irvine Michigan State University (Emeritus)

Farhad Rassekh

University of Hartford

Francis Ahking

University of Connecticut

Frank Falero

California State University (Emeritus)

Gary R. Skoog

Legal Econometrics, Inc.

Gary Wolfram

Hillsdale College

Gene Simpson

NPTC, Auburn University

George Langelett

South Dakota State University

Gerald P. Dwyer

Clemson University

Gil Sylvia

University of Georgia

H Daniel Foster

HDFCO

Hugo J. Faria

University of Miami

Inayat Mangla

Western Michigan University

J. Edward Graham

UNC Wilmington

Jagdish Bhagwati

Columbia University

James B Kau

University of Georgia

James C.W. Ahiakpor California State University, East Bay

James D. Adams

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

James D. Miller

Smith College

James F. Smith

EconForecaster, LLC

James Keeler

Kenyon College

James M. Mulcahy SUNY - Buffalo economics department

James Moncur

University of Hawaii at Manoa

Jeffrey Dorfman

University of Georgia

Jerold Zimmerman

University of Rochester

Jody Lipford

Presbyterian College

John A. Baden

Chm., Foundation for Research on Economics and the Environment (FREE)

John C. Moorhouse Wake Forest University (Emeritus)

John D. Johnson

Utah State University

John H McDermott

University of South Carolina

John McArthur

Wofford College

John P. Eleazarian

American Economic Association

John Ruggiero

University of Dayton

John Semmens

Laissez Faire Institute

Joseph A. Giacalone

St. John's University, NY

Joseph Haslag University of Missouri- Columbia

Joseph S. DeSalvo University of South Florida - Tampa

Joseph Zoric Franciscan University of Steubenville

Kathleen B. Cooper

SMU's John Tower Center for Politico Science

Kenneth V. Greene Binghamton University (Emeritus)

Lawrence Benveniste Goizueta Business School, Emory University

Lawrence R. Cima

John Carroll University

Leon Wegge

University of California, Davis

Lloyd Cohen

Scalia Law School

Lucjan Orlowski

Sacred Heart University

Lydia Ortega

San Jose State University

M. Northrup Buechner

St. John's University, New York

Maurice MacDonald

Kansas State University

Michael A. Morrisey

Texas A&M University

Michael Connolly

University of Miami

Michael D Brendler Louisiana State University Shreveport.

Michael L. Marlow

Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo

Moheb A. Ghali

Western Washington University

Nancy Roberts

Arizona State University

Nasser Duella

California State University, Fullerton

Nicolas Sanchez

College of the Holy Cross, Worcester, MA (Emeritus,)

Norman Lefton

Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville

Paul H Rubin

Emory University

Pavel Yakovlev

Duquesne University

Pedro Piffaut

Columbia University

Peter E. Kretzmer

Bank of America

Peter S. Yun

UVAWISE (Emeritus)

Phillip J. Bryson Brigham Young University (Emeritus)

R. Ashley Lyman

University of Idaho

R. L. Promboin

University of Maryland University College (former)

Richard J. Cebula

Jacksonville University

Richard Kilmer

University of Florida

Richard Timberlake

Prof. of Econ., Univ. of Ga. (Retired)

Richard Vedder

Ohio University

Robert B Helms

American Enterprise Institute (Retired)

Robert F Stauffer

Roanoke College , (Emeritus)

Robert H. Topel

University of Chicago Booth School of Business

Robert Heller

Former Governor, Federal Reserve Board

Robert Sauer

Royal Holloway University

Robert Tamura

Clemson University

Roger Meiners

University of Texas-Arlington

Sanjai Bhagat

University of Colorado Boulder

Scott Hein

Texas Tech University

Seth Bied

New York State Tax Department

Stan Liebowitz

University of Texas

Stephen Happel

Arizona State University

T. Craig Tapley

University of Florida

Thomas H. Mayor

University of Houston

Thomas J Kniesner

Claremont Graduate University

Thomas M. Stoker

MIT (retired)

Thomas Saving

Texas A&M University

Timothy Mathews

Kennesaw State University

Tomi Ovaska

Youngstown State University

Tony Lima

California State University, East Bay

Victor a Canto

La Jolla economics

Vijay Singal

Navrang Inc

Wallace Hendricks

University of Illinois

Ward S. Curran Trinity College Hartford Connecticut (Emeritus)

Wayne T. Brough

FreedomWorks Foundation

William B. Fairley

Analysis & Inference, Inc.

William Buchanan

Valdosta State University

William McKillop

Resource Economics (Emeritus)

William R. Allen UCLA Department of Economics

William S. Peirce Case Western Reserve University

Wim Vijverberg

CUNY Graduate Center

Xuepeng Liu

Kennesaw State University

Yuri N. Maltsev

A.W. Clausen Center for World Business, Carthage College