The Kudzu Files

Givebacks and giveaways

Dave has been speculating on the course of our fiscal strategy lately. And I agree, to an extent, that the charge that Republicans (back to 1980) have been trying to bankrupt government doesn't fly. However, I do believe that the massive debt that's been run up under Reagan, Bush I, and Bush II were tolerable to otherwise "fiscally responsible" Republicans because they knew that the deficits would cripple the ability of government to fund programs unpopular with many on the right side of the political debate - welfare, the environment, public health, and others. (Although to use the term "fiscally responsible" and Republican in the same sentence is becoming ludicrous).

But this has happened because "we" (the voting public) have seen tax cuts as givebacks and government programs as giveaways. And that's a false perspective. A tax cut that isn't coupled with a real, verifiable, equal reduction in government spending is just another giveaway, a government social program targetted at a specific class. In this case, the people providing the funding for the program are future taxpayers. But when you step back, it's all the same. And so John Kerry's pledge to eliminate the tax cuts for the wealthiest taxpayers isn't a tax increase, it's a cut in a goverment program. And much more fiscally responsible. (Equally responsible fiscally would be keeping the tax cuts and reducing government spending by that amount.)