We find ourselves in unusual but not completely unfamiliar territory as the US election has yet to declare a result.As we stand Joe Biden looks most likely to win although any such win seems set to go straight to the courts. But we need to address what changes he plans for US economic policy? The first step according to Moodys will be more fiscal expansionism.
Vice President Biden has proposed a wide
range of changes to the tax code and government spending. In total, he is calling for $4.1
trillion in tax increases and an additional $7.3
trillion in government spending over the next
decade.
Moodys have taken the current zeitgeist in favour of fiscal policy and projected this impact from it.
The government’s deficits will be
$3.2 trillion larger on a static basis and $2.6
trillion on a dynamic basis, after accounting
for the benefits to the budget of the stronger
economy resulting from his policies.
Of course the “stronger economy” mentioned is an opinion and we have seen in my time here quite a shift in the establishment view on fiscal policy. A decade ago the views was that a contractionary fiscal policy could expand the economy whereas now we are told an expansionary one will. There has been a shift in the cost of borrowing which I will look at in more detail later, but even so there has been more than a little flip-flopping.
Detailed Proposals
Interestingly the fiscal expansionism comes with tax increases for some.
The largest source of new tax revenue in
the vice president’s plan comes from increasing taxes on corporations. Of the $4.1 trillion
in total tax revenue collected under his plan
over the next decade on a static basis, more
than half comes from higher corporate taxes.
The bulk of this results from an increase from
21% to 28% in the top marginal tax rate paid
by corporations.
So he is reversing half of the Trump tax cuts in this area. Next comes a tax on higher earners.
Another large source of new tax revenue in
Biden’s plan is the 12.6% Social Security payroll tax on annual earnings of more than $400,000.
The current earnings cap subject to the payroll tax is almost $138,000………..This change will put
the Social Security trust fund on much sounder
financial footing, and it will raise close to $1
trillion in revenue over the next decade on a
static basis, about one-third of the total tax
revenue raised under Biden’s plan
The theme is of taxing the rich and wealthy and which continues with what might in the past have been called a soak the rich plan.
The vice president would roll back
the tax cuts that those earning more than
$400,000 received under Trump’s TCJA, tax
capital gains and dividend income like ordinary
income for those making more than $1 million
in total income.
Spending
Here we are looking at a Spend! Spend! Spend! plan where the extra revenue above is spent and then some.
His proposal calls for additional spending of $7.9 trillion on a static basis, including on infrastructure, education, the social safety net, and healthcare, with the bulk of the
spending slated to happen during his term as
president in an effort to generate more jobs
Those who bemoan America’s infrastructure should welcome this effort.
Of all of Biden’s spending initiatives, the
most expansive is on infrastructure. On a
static basis, he would increase such spending
by $2.4 trillion for the decade—all of it to
be spent during his term.
Education too will be a beneficiary.
Biden is also calling for a large increase in
an array of educational initiatives. He proposes
to spend $1.9 trillion over 10 years on a static
basis on pre-K, K-12 and higher education (see
Table 3). Attending a public college or university would be tuition-free for children in families with incomes of less than $125,000.
I find the end to tuition fees for some to be intriguing as it is a reversal of the past direction of travel. Also there is this.
The social safety net would meaningfully
expand under Biden (see Table 4). He would
spend an additional $1.5 trillion over 10 years
on a static basis on various social programs,
with the largest outlays going to workers to
receive paid family and medical leave for up
to 12 weeks…….
And healthcare.
The healthcare system would also receive
a significant infusion of funding under a
President Biden primarily via the Affordable
Care Act…….. The 10-year static budget cost of the
proposed changes to the healthcare system
comes to nearly $1.5 trillion.
US Federal Reserve
There are a couple of streams of thought here. The first is that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has called for more fiscal expansionism.
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell called Tuesday for continued aggressive fiscal and monetary stimulus for an economic recovery that he said still has “a long way to go.”
Noting progress made in job creation, goods consumption and business formation, among other areas, Powell said that now would be the wrong time for policymakers to take their foot off the gas. ( CNBC on the 6th of October)
Thus he would presumably be happy to run policies to help this. He is already in the game.
At its September meeting, the FOMC directed the Desk to increase SOMA holdings of Treasury securities at the current pace, which is the equivalent of approximately $80 billion per month.
Also he has the ability to respond should he wish without a grand announcement as these days smoothing market operations cover quite a few bases.
The Desk is prepared to increase the size and adjust the composition of its purchase operations as needed to sustain the smooth functioning of the Treasury market.
We can now take that forwards to the next perspective because the market seems to have come to its own conclusion.In the past the bond vigilantes would have driven US bond yields higher but in fact the US bond market has risen and yields fallen.I established a marker on the day of the election and the ten-year Treasury Note yield was 0.87% but as I type this it is 0.73%
Comment
The caveat to today’s post is that is by no means certain that Joe Biden will win and even if he does he seems likely to face a Republican Senate. But we do seem set for a more expansionary fiscal policy which would be oiled and polished by the US Federal Reserve.That does link to the news from the Bank of England earlier when it announced an expansion of £150 billion in its purchases of UK bonds as it too is an agent of fiscal policy these days.
Looking at the economic impact we see from Moodys that the multiplier is back.What I mean by that is fiscal spending is assumed to grow the economy which then helps to pay for it. The catch is always when you do not seem much growth ( think Italy) or if the economy contracts over a long period ( think Greece). We do know that the US economy can grow and that it has been doing better than us in Europe in the credit crunch era but whether it will grow by enough is another matter. With the rise in the Covid-19 cases though it may be a while before it gets the chance to demonstrate that and for such calculations when and how long matter.