Thursday, August 12, 2010
Fareed Zakaria - To deal with the deficit, let the tax cuts expire
Fareed Zakaria - To deal with the deficit, let the tax cuts expire
There's been a lot of hand-wringing lately by conservatives about the deficit lately. It's the Big Bad Bogeyman they pull out constantly to warn you of the terrible future we have in front of us.
Now I actually sort of kind of agree with them to a point. We really should care about the deficit and we should try to have a balanced budget, like Clinton had. However, unlike them, I'm willing to do something that would immediately help out in this regard; let the Bush tax cuts expire.
Letting the irresponsible tax cuts to the richest of Americans expire would cut our deficit by around 300 billion dollars. Three hundred billion! That's real money even by government standards. That's about a quarter of our entire deficit. Doing so would still keep our tax rate lower than during most of the Reagan years. If we're serious about trying to be fiscally responsible, this is a good place to start.
Unfortunately, the chances of this happening are slim. There's at least a small chance that the tax rate for those making over $250,000 a year may return to the norm, but the Democrats will need to stand strong against the Republicans to accomplish this. The Republicans hate taxes more then deficits, no matter what they say in public.
The Bush tax cuts where a terrible move. They didn't bring on economic growth, they ushered in deficits of unprecedented scope. Let them die and lets try to get back to true conservative values like paying for things that we want.
There's been a lot of hand-wringing lately by conservatives about the deficit lately. It's the Big Bad Bogeyman they pull out constantly to warn you of the terrible future we have in front of us.
Now I actually sort of kind of agree with them to a point. We really should care about the deficit and we should try to have a balanced budget, like Clinton had. However, unlike them, I'm willing to do something that would immediately help out in this regard; let the Bush tax cuts expire.
Letting the irresponsible tax cuts to the richest of Americans expire would cut our deficit by around 300 billion dollars. Three hundred billion! That's real money even by government standards. That's about a quarter of our entire deficit. Doing so would still keep our tax rate lower than during most of the Reagan years. If we're serious about trying to be fiscally responsible, this is a good place to start.
Unfortunately, the chances of this happening are slim. There's at least a small chance that the tax rate for those making over $250,000 a year may return to the norm, but the Democrats will need to stand strong against the Republicans to accomplish this. The Republicans hate taxes more then deficits, no matter what they say in public.
The Bush tax cuts where a terrible move. They didn't bring on economic growth, they ushered in deficits of unprecedented scope. Let them die and lets try to get back to true conservative values like paying for things that we want.
