According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), thats the amount tax cuts being proposed by Republicans will add to the national deficit over 10 years.
The proposed tax cuts include permanently extending the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts which represent $2.3 trillion. Of course that’s just an estimate. But the CBO found that the unfunded Bush tax cuts, which primarily benefit the wealthy, added $539 billion to the deficit in 2005 alone.
On top of that deficit-ballooning idea, Republicans want to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax along with Estate Taxes and Gift Taxes which, according to projections, will add another $1.1 trillion to the deficit over 10 years. Again, these tax cuts are aimed at benefitting the wealthiest part of our society.
Just to be clear, the $3.4 trillion would be added to the annual deficit over the next ten years and the effect on the total national debt would be cumulative. In other words, they would likely add another $3.4 trillion to the national debt each and every decade after their passage!
In case youve been living in a vacuum, the people promoting these tax cuts are the very people who claim to be so concerned about adding to the deficit that theyre willing to filibuster the extension of unemployment benefits for people who are out of work.
Whats particularly fascinating about this debate is that the Republican leaders dont think cutting revenue will have an impact on the deficit.
Senate Minority Dimwit, Mitch McConnell is on record for saying, Theres no evidence that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue.
Hmmm if you believe that, maybe you should try this experiment at home: If your household expenses exceed your income, then look for a job with a lower salary. According to McConnell, fellow Senate Dimwit, Jon Kyl, and other Republicans, that will reduce your debt!
Thats the kind of thinking that took us from an economy that generated 22 million jobs and a budget surplus in the Clinton administration to an economy that almost entirely collapsed under the Bush administration and gave us a huge deficit.
Yeah, who wouldn’t want to put those people in charge again?