http://www.epi.org/publications/entry/news_from_epi_boehners_job_creation_plan_would_result_in_a_loss_of_one_millA new Economic Policy Institute analysis of Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner’s recently-proposed two-step job creation plan finds that it would have a net job impact of one million fewer jobs nationwide. Boehner’s plan, which calls for a cut in non-security-related spending to fiscal year 2008 levels and a two-year freeze on all current tax rates, would drastically reduce the budgets of basic human needs and investment programs while extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy. At a cost of one million jobs, this plan would reduce the deficit by a negligible amount – less than 5.5% in 2011. If his proposed tax policies are made permanent, as he has advocated, it would significantly worsen the long-term budgetary outlook.
HOW TO LOSE OVER A MILLION JOBS Sacrifice Investments to Cut Taxes for the Rich Republican House Minority Leader John Boehner recently proposed a two-step job creation plan consisting of
a full extension of Bush-era tax changes and cuts to domestic spending. His plan calls on Congress to cut
non-security related spending back to fiscal year 2008 levels and to enact a two-year freeze on all current
tax rates.1
Rep. Boehner claims these two policies will drive job growth more than any proposal of President Obama’s. However,
we find that this proposal would have a devastating impact on the struggling U.S. labor market while negligibly
improving the fiscal outlook.
Specifically, we find:
• Relative to the president’s budget request, the plan would reduce funding for domestic programs—which include
investments in infrastructure, education, and research—by 22.7%, while extending the Bush tax cuts for top earners.2
• The Boehner plan would reduce the defi cit by less than 5.5% in 2011.3
• Because reductions in spending are larger than the tax cuts, and because tax cuts for upper-income taxpayers are poor stimulus, the net job impact of the Boehner plan would be an estimated employment reduction of over 1 million jobs.