Mark Trahant: Bush tax cuts come with a price

Monday, August 6, 2007  

"The White House proclaims the miracle of tax cuts.

Rob Portman, now the former director of the Office of Management and Budget, followed the script last week when he said, "As we look ahead, we are going to be promoting and ensuring that the tax relief stays in place, that we not have tax increases, which would jeopardize this economic growth; therefore, revenues; therefore, the good progress we've made on the budget deficit."

But you know the story; these are words the Bush administration has repeated faithfully since it took office. Tax cuts work because they make the economy better and, therefore, make the deficit smaller.

These phrases are designed to create the illusion that tax cuts have magic properties. Those of us who don't believe are muggles, our noses stuck in some book (must be because we've lost our wands).

It's time to bury make-believe economics; the fiction about tax cuts impedes the adult conversation our nation needs to have about federal taxes, spending and demographics.

Here is a news flash: The federal budget would have been balanced this year (and the next four years) without the tax cuts. The numbers are in and the Bush tax cuts did not pay for themselves in any way, shape or form."

Get the Story:
Bush tax cuts don't pay for themselves (The Seattle Post-Intelligencer 8/5)

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