Centrists' Deficit Numbers Don't Add Up
The Senate Gang of Six's efforts to reach a budget deal deserve a lot of praise: by putting everything including defense, security spending, veterans benefits, and entitlements on the table, the chances of reaching a deal that helps the economy and has a legitimate chance of becoming law is vastly higher. What bothers me, however, is the news that the group is using President Obama's deficit commission's plan as a starting point.
For all its good suggestions about simplifying the tax code, changing entitlements, and cutting needless programs, the Commission's plan also asks for revenues well above the 20 to 21 percent of GDP the federal government has typically consumed. Except in wartime, it has been almost impossible to sustain revenues at this level. And doing so isn't likely to help the economy anyway. There's still time to wait and see for a final agreement and, many aspects of the fiscal commission report deserve real consideration. But the large total tax increases it asked for just aren't a good idea.