Another Expert Speaks Out on the Need for Higher Taxes
I speak frequently about David Walker, but there’s another expert of whom you should also be aware. It’s economist Lawrence Kolitlikoff. He’s a professor at Boston University and author of The Clash of Generations. Find his blog at kolitlikoff.net. He is famous for having quantified the actual costs of America’s unfunded liabilities (promises made vs. ability to pay under current tax rates) at $222 Trillion. In this article he makes the case that, because of these unfunded liabilities, our country is actually much worse off than Greece.
The only thing that disguises the true state of our country’s fiscal condition is accounting that would “make Bernie Madoff blush”.
It’s just another resource you can mobilize to help your clients understand the inevitability of higher tax rates. As Ed Slott says, “That 401k statement you get every quarter? It comes on the IRS’s letterhead!”