Another Gimmicky Tax Cut

It's odd that the President has to work so hard to persuade Members of Congress to be irresponsible. Congress hasn't made a tough choice on budget policy since 1997, when it passed the Balanced Budget Act of 1997, which contained some difficult spending cuts. Since then, it has been all spending increases and tax cuts: Agriculture? Sure. Defense? Absolutely. Transportation? Of course. Tax cuts for business? Yep. Tax cuts for rich folks? Big time. Tax cuts for poor folks? Why not.

So there must be something essentially wrong with the President's economic strategy if he is forced to fly Air Force 1 to the home states of undecided Senators -- Nebraska (Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson), Ohio (Republican Sen. George Voinovich), and Arkansas (Demcratic Sen. Blanche Lincoln) -- and rev up the crazies at the Club for Growth (which exists to attack Republicans who haven't drunk the purest anti-government Kool-Aid) to run campaign-syle adds in Maine and Ohio (against Voinovich and Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe), just to persuade them to be a little more irresponsible.

The Senate tax bill passed yesterday contains the usual "sunset" gimmicks to mask it true intended cost. The House bill was worse.

The President has become the cheerleader and pressure point for fiscal irresponsibility. For the next several weeks, he will look "strong" for having "won" some extra tax cut goodies, and for successfully disguising the long-term cost. But irresponsibility has a way of catching up with people, and nations.

We hope Senators refuse to vote for extensions of the sunset gimmicks in this latest hodgepodge of tax cuts (and the previous hodgepodges as well) until the President and Congress convene a high-profile Tax Reform Commission, to simplify and rationalize the tax code, and force a more serious national debate on priorities. Senator Voinovich touted such a commission as a justification for his "yes" vote on the tax cut.

However, if a Tax Reform commission is stacked with anti-tax and pro-tax wingnuts from both sides of the political aisle, it will accomplish nothing. We hope the President keeps his promise to Senator Voinovich and pushes for a truly responsible, bipartisan commission that will have the courage to sort this mess out and put America back on a more appropriate fiscal course.

Links:
Centrists.Org No-BS Budget Baseline (May 24, 2003)

Posted by Jeff Lemieux at May 16, 2003 09:28 AM