Republicans Show What They Really Think About Deficit Reduction

Republicans once again show what their top priority is. During the Bush years, Republican such as Dick Cheney claimed that “deficits don’t matter.” Once Obama took office, the Republicans have repeatedly tried to blame the Bush deficit on Democrats and have demanded offsets for the costs of everything from emergency disaster relief to unemployment benefits and tax cuts for the middle class. However, there is now one exception. House Republicans are now saying that they want to continue the Bush tax cuts on the wealthy without any offsets:

While President Obama and congressional Democrats want to extend only the Bush rates for middle-income earners, Republicans have long argued that the entire slate of tax rates should be kept in place until Congress can agree to a complete overhaul of the tax code.

But moving to extend the Bush tax rates without offsetting spending cuts or revenue increases could leave the GOP vulnerable to attacks on the deficit, particularly for a party that has spent years accusing Democrats of bankrupting federal coffers and used their House majority to insist on controlling the exploding debt.

It is Republican Party orthodoxy that tax cuts do not need to be offset because of the additional tax receipts they spur through economic growth. And in interviews, even House Republicans who have broken with the party leadership on taxes told The Hill they do not believe the extension of the Bush-era rates needs to be paid for.

Of course the evidence over the years has been that in most cases lower taxes means decreased government revenue without causing economic growth. This was seen again with the Bush tax cuts. The Laffer Curve shows benefits for tax cuts in situations with high tax rates. On rare occasions, such as when Democrat John Kennedy lowered taxes, economic benefits were seen. Even the Laffer Curve demonstrates that economic stimulus will not  result from tax cuts when tax rates are at historically low levels, such as at the present. Republicans just want to lower taxes for the ultra-wealthy, and do not really care about the deficit or the consequences for the country.

3 Comments

  1. 1
    John Sonntag says:

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  2. 2
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  3. 3
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