Ending Tax Break for Union Dues Could Save $25 Billion

From The Weekly Standard

By Kate Havard

While President Obama and other Democrats frequently talk about the need for "shared sacrifice" and a "balanced" approach to deficit reduction, their proposal to raise taxes $418 billion is a grab bag of liberal favorites: ending tax breaks for oil companies and corporate jet companies, as well as reducing deductions for couples earning more than $250,000 per year.

While ending the corporate jet tax break will save only $3 billion over the next 10 years, ending a tax break for one big Democratic constituency--unions--could save a lot more money over that same time.

A conservative estimate for union dues paid each year is $8 billion, according to the National Right to Work’s Stan Greer. If over ten years $80 billion in union dues were taxed, the federal government could generate roughly $25 billion in tax revenue.

If the president wants a truly balanced approach to ending tax breaks, why isn't he asking his union friends -- which spent over $400 million on his presidential race and Democratic campaigns in 2008 -- to pay their fair share?

Kate Havard, a student at St. John's College, is an intern at The Weekly Standard.