Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles, Co-Chairmen of President Obama’s debt commission, will testify before the Congressional “Supercommittee” this afternoon.  Taxpayers should be reminded that the Simpson-Bowles plan is a net tax increase of $1 trillion, $2 trillion, or $3 trillion over a decade:

  • Even the internal score of Simpson-Bowles admits the plan raises taxes by over $1 trillion.
     
  • House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, who voted against Simpson-Bowles, writes:

“Relative to a current policy baseline, the proposal would increase revenues by $2 trillion over 10 years.”  [“Expanded Views on the Fiscal Commission,” by Paul Ryan, Dec. 4, 2010]

  • The Heritage Foundation scored Simpson-Bowles as a $3.3 trillion tax increase over ten years:

“Overall, the fiscal commission would raise taxes by $3.3 trillion over the decade.”  Heritage also wrote that Bowles-Simpson would be “the highest sustained tax burden in American history.” [“Fiscal Commission Report: Too Much Taxes, Not Enough Spending Cuts,” by Brian Riedl, Dec. 3, 2010]