Area residents might want to ask their congressmen how they voted on the House Democrats’ 2009 federal budget proposal. If it becomes law, the proposal will mean the loss of thousands of jobs, higher federal taxes, and lower incomes for individuals and families. The losses would result mainly from letting the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 expire, starting in 2010. That’s the conclusion of projections by The Heritage Foundation‘s Center for Data Analysis (CDA) on the impact of the proposal. The CDA calculations use tax collection projections by the Congressional Budget Office and the Global Insight econometric model used by economists throughout the private sector and the federal government.
In Maryland, for example, the CDA analysis found that residents of the eighth congressional district represented by Democrat Rep. Chris Van Hollen would experience a $3,146 annual tax hike and the loss of 2,407 jobs. There would also be a $367 million loss in the combined value of goods and services produced in the district. In the fourth congressional district represented by the retiring Democrat Rep. Al Wynn, the annual tax hike would be $2,539, while 2,327 jobs would be lost and $248 billion would be shaved from the district’s economy. In the Baltimore suburbs, residents of the third district represented by Democrat John P. Sarbanes would face an annual tax hike of $2,499 each, 2,363 jobs would disappear from the district and its economy would lose $283 million. For residents of the second congressional district represented by Democrat Dutch Ruppersberger, the tax hike would be $2,010, jobs lost would total 2,259 and the reduction in the district’s economy would be $212 million. Overall, Marylanders would end up paying an average of $2,470 more annually in federal taxes, while coping with a $2.1 billion loss in the state’s economy.
The impact would be even more severe on residents of Virginia‘s eighth congressional district represented by Democrat Rep. Jim Moran. The average tax hike would be $3,579, 2,581 jobs would be lost and $418 million would be lost in the district’s economy. The biggest losers in Virginia would be residents of the 11th district represented by retiring Republican Rep. Tom Davis. Taxes would increase more than $4,100 for individual taxpayers there. The economy of Virginia’s 11th congressional district represented by Republican Rep. Frank Wolf would face a $423 million loss in total economic value, the largest of any district in the state. For all of Virginia, the average tax hike would be in excess of $3,000 per taxpayer and the total economic loss would be $3 billion.
