Breaking: Tax cuts for billionaires adds to the deficit
Quote of the day goes to Steve Benen's response to the GOP's feigned outrage about the CBO's new deficit projection, which has unsurprisingly risen in light of the tax break for rich people deal made in the lame duck session last year.
This is why we're so screwed up right now. You can't have an adult conversation about solutions without the adults, and they're just aren't any on the far right anymore.
If Republicans didn't want a higher deficit, they shouldn't have fought so hard to make it worse. They had a choice -- expensive tax breaks or deficit reduction. They made their choice, were told what the consequences would be, and are now stunned by the realization that the rules of arithmetic haven't been suspended by the GOP's force of will.Meanwhile, Kevin Drum has the pretty chart to illustrate the point. Sadly, even empirical evidence and actual numbers won't crack the cognitive dissonance of those who really want it to be Obama and the Democrats fault.
This is why we're so screwed up right now. You can't have an adult conversation about solutions without the adults, and they're just aren't any on the far right anymore.
Labels: conservatism, economy, policy
posted by Libby Spencer at 12:27 PM
1 Comments:
Ms Spencer "If Republicans didn't want a higher deficit, they shouldn't have fought so hard to make it worse. They had a choice -- expensive tax breaks or deficit reduction."
Per the CBO's analysis of the deficit increase, $99B of it ($374B) in 2011 was due to extending the Bush era marginal income tax rates for everyone (http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/120xx/doc12020/sa4753.pdf)
Approx 25-33% of the marginal tax benefit goes to the upper 2-5% AGI earners due to the nature of the tax code
Therefore, or the $99B in lost revenue (as scored by the CBO), only $25-35 billion went to those you label as "bilionaires"
In comparison, The payroll tax holiday cost $68B, and the UE benefit extension cost $34.5B
Plenty of "goodies" for everyone
One last reminder..though the GOP campaigned on extending the Bush era tax rates for all (including the upper AGI earners your side had the majority in the House, and the Senate. In addition President Obama could have vetoed the legislation.
-tdc
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