The US Congress should agree to higher taxes on the wealthy to avoid the fiscal cliff, a top Republican economist has conceded in a sign of the rapidly shifting political climate in Washington before negotiations to avert the looming budget crisis.
Writing in the Financial Times, Glenn Hubbard, who advised Barack Obama’s rival Mitt Romney on his losing presidential bid, is the latest prominent conservative to suggest Republicans should change tack and accept the president’s structure for impending budget talks.
“The first step is to raise average (not marginal) tax rates on upper-income taxpayers,” he wrote. “Revenues should come first from these individuals.”