Economics
Corporate-Tax Proposal in Senate Stokes Economists’ Concern
- Senators float idea of tax penalty to boost minimum wages
- Experts cite lack of research on this type of mechanism
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A fresh initiative in the U.S. Senate to put a tax penalty on big companies as a way of forcing higher minimum wages prompted a skeptical reaction among economists including a top adviser to former President Barack Obama.
“This is a really big, complicated, brand new proposal. It is *possible* that it works,” Jason Furman, who served in Obama’s White House and is now a professor of economic policy at Harvard University, said in a tweet. “It is also *possible* that another tax version works. But I would be extremely nervous about trying out a brand new idea like this with virtually no vetting.”