Taxing America's Patience, Part 5

Steve Benen makes an outstanding catch from the Iowa debate on Thursday night:  not a single Republican candidate for President would accept deal that would ever raise revenues.

About midway through the event, Byron York asked Rick Santorum about the next phase of the debt-reduction process, as the Murray/Hensarling panel (the “super committee”) begins its work. “Democrats will demand that savings come from a combination of spending cuts and tax increases, maybe $3 in cuts for every $1 in higher taxes,” York noted. “Is there any ratio of cuts to taxes that you would accept? Three to one? Four to one? Or even 10 to one?”

Santorum replied, “No. The answer is no.” He conceded that revenues are down, but argued that was a positive development.

Stop and think about that.  The number one argument from Republicans is that cutting taxes raises revenue because businesses are able to grow more and the investor class has more capital to invest with.  But Santorum concedes that the Bush tax cuts (and President Obama's subsequent middle-class payroll tax cut, the largest middle class tax cut in history mind you) has led to declining revenues.

Now, Santorum goes on to try to explain how declining revenues are good:  because it forces government to cut spending.  The man has never cracked open an econ textbook, surely.  FOX's Bret Baier then asked all the candidates this:

Baier phrased it this way: “I’m going to ask a question to everyone here on the stage. Say you had a deal, a real spending cuts deal, 10-to-1, as Byron said, spending cuts to tax increases…. Who on this stage would walk away from that deal? Can you raise your hand if you feel so strongly about not raising taxes, you’d walk away on the 10-to-1 deal?”


All eight candidates raised their hand. Literally all of them, if offered a debt-reduction deal that’s 10-to-1 in their favor, would simply refuse.

The clown car is a joke.  No wonder S&P downgraded us.  They did so because Republicans cannot be taken seriously on economic and fiscal policy, and they block any and all rational policy by Democrats, policies that overwhelming majorities of Americans favor.  Americans favor a combination of spending cuts and tax increases on those who can afford it.  These are policies that overwhelming majorities of Republican voters favor!

But no.  Every one of these idiots would walk away from a deal like that. No wonder we were downgraded. Republicans are nothing more than destructive, inchoate stupidity.