In the next few months, congress will have to decide if it will let the Bush Tax cuts expire. Failure to act will raise the taxes of nearly everyone in the US who pays any tax. Millions will be moved back onto the tax rolls. billions will be removed from the economy at a point when we are slipping back into recession. Nothing good will come from this. Indeed, if the tax rise causes the economy to decline, the higher rates will not even bring in more revenue to the government.
The use of this issue for demagoguery is increasing day by day. The class warfare cries of the Democrats are surfacing with regularity. "No tax cuts for the rich" is the cry, even if it means that they harm the economy. The republicans seem to be in favor of every tax cut that anyone mentions, even if these cuts will not help with growth but will decrease revenues. Few people even mention the need for spending cuts to reduce the deficit that are needed in concert with the tax cuts (Paul Ryan is the main exception).
Wouldn't it be nice if Congress could actually consider what needed to be done to help the country get back on the way to strong economic growth. Imagine, 535 people devoted to getting things moving again rather than to their own re-election. While this is clearly never going to happen, it would be nice if we could find that half of Congress acted in this way. Unfortunately, even half is an exteremly unlikely goal to reach.
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