Todd Akin's Fantasy Land: Cutting Taxes for the Wealthy Will Not Increase Federal Debt
Rep. Todd Akin delivered another one of his House Floor speeches to no one in particular last week, this time focusing on his unique interpretation of what the "socialists" are proposing regarding the Bush-era tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans. As you know, the two main proposals on the table regarding the cuts are to (1) extend the tax cuts for all Americans, but let rates for income above $250,000 to return to their levels from the 1990s, and (2) extend the tax cuts in their entirety. Both plans will increase the federal deficit.
Akin, of course, wants the wealthy to have their tax rates as low as possible. But rather than explain why it's okay to oppose unemployment benefits in the name of fiscal responsibility while fighting for not-all-that-but-still-somewhat-stimulative tax cuts for the wealthiest folks, Akin just decides that the actual cost of the proposal is not an issue. How wonderful!
You put all these tax cuts in place, you think, oh, that's fiscally irresponsible because then the government's going to go into debt more and more. Oh, is that really so? In fact it's not so.
A debate can be had about the wisdom of deficit spending to stimulate economic growth. But the notion that any of the proposals for extending the Bush-era tax cuts will not have a significant impact on the federal debt and deficit is absurd.
You can watch Akin's silliness here. But I don't actually recommend it.
