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Friday, March 07, 2008
The Largest Tax Exaggeration in History
Can We Kindly Declare a Moratorium on This Canard?
Once again, the claim is heard that the budget resolution calls for "the largest tax increase in history." And it is as false a claim as ever.
Current law calls for the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 to expire in 2010. Under the law, the tax rates that prevailed prior to those years will be restored, resulting in a tax increase, which by some measure would be the largest in history.
Must we assign blame? OK, then. The Bush administration wrote that tax law, mandating the 2010 expiration -- and the resulting tax increase thereafter. Congress, controlled by the GOP at the time, passed that law. It was signed by President Bush. In all the years since then -- when, except for this past year, they controlled Congress -- the GOP failed to do anything about the impending increase.
Blaming anyone for assuming current tax law will remain current tax law in estimating projected revenues -- let alone saying that such an assumption amounts to proposing the largest tax increase in history -- is akin to blaming the weatherman who reports that it is currently (as of this writing) raining outside and recommends that people carry umbrellas with them.
Oddly, however, Messrs. Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Jugg Gregg (R-NH) persist in blaming the Democrats for this state of affairs, when they had ample opportunity to do something about it. It is misleading, tiresome, and as irresponsible to suggest this as it was to propose this tax policy in the first place.
Posted by Dana Chasin
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