Posted on 08/12/2011 8:17:20 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
I think he means this as a generic gesture of goodwill, i.e. let’s not start drawing lines until we’ve at least met face to face, but I bet a lot of grim, knowing glances and nods are being exchanged at Americans for Tax Reform right now.
A leading Republican lawmaker would not rule out tax increases on Thursday if they could boost economic growth, adding that “everything is on the table” for a congressional panel charged with forging a deal to cut the deficit.
Representative Dave Camp, head of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee in the House of Representatives, told Reuters in a telephone interview that the deepening global financial crisis would prompt him and other super committee members to pull together…
“I don’t want to rule anything in or out,” Camp said. “I am willing to discuss all issues that might help us reduce our short and long-term debt and grow our economy,” Camp said…
“Economic growth and job creation in the private sector — that’s what we need to use as a benchmark about any policy, but particularly tax policy,” Camp said.
So there’s the escape clause. Everything’s on the table if it’ll grow the economy, which makes tax reform (lower rates with fewer loopholes) a potential point of compromise but not so much tax hikes. Nothing new or blockbuster-y about that, but by linking the Committee’s mission to job creation, Camp’s handing the Democrats an opening. Even most Republicans accept the impact of government spending on growth well enough that they didn’t dare risk hitting the debt ceiling lest a sudden 40 percent cut in federal outlays plunge the economy back into recession. If Camp is framing the Super Committee as a job-creating engine and not just a debt-slashing machine, it gives Democrats every reason to fight even harder against deep cuts. The theoretically proper way to frame this, I think, is that the debt is at such a crisis point that we have to reduce it by every available means, regardless of what it means for economic growth. (Which, in that case, would encourage Democrats to demand huge tax hikes come what may.) But framing it that way would be pure poison given the public’s priorities of jobs over deficit reduction, so Camp’s doing the smart thing politically and hoping that Keynes fatigue among voters will keep Democrats on the Committee in check.
Speaking of tax hikes and the Super Committee, Pelosi’s three appointees are James Clyburn, Xavier Becerra, and Chris Van Hollen. Anything odd about that? Well, Van Hollen used to chair the DCCC and accordingly has built important relationships with donors as a fundraiser for the party. Coincidentally, Patty Murray’s the current head of the DSCC and is also a member of the Super Committee. How open to compromise do you think those two will be knowing that they have to go hat in hand to angry liberals next year? Conversely, how easily influenced do you think they’ll be by prominent donors looking to have some influence on the Committee? In fact, Becerra, who’s voted no on every debt compromise measure to hit the House floor, is already fundraising off of today’s appointment. Priorities.
But that’s not the worst of it. Philip Klein:
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., three picks to serve on the joint Congressional deficit-reduction panel have all advocated massive tax hikes this year, with two of the appointees having voted for the radical budget plan put together by House liberals.
The so-called “People’s Budget,” proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus as an alternative to Rep. Paul Ryan’s plan, was so liberal that it only received 77 votes in the House (with 108 Democrats voting “no.”) But Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., whom Pelosi named to the committee today, were among the few “yes” votes.
According to Ryan’s office, it would hike taxes by $16 trillion relative to his House-passed plan.
In other words, as expected, Pelosi’s three appointees will all be reliable no votes on a final deal as soon as they take their seats. That leaves the Senate Democrats — Murray, Baucus, and Kerry — to provide the decisive seventh vote on any Republican plan. I thought Baucus would be the likeliest candidate for that, but the left is worried about someone else. Will John Kerry end up being the GOP’s new best friend? Exit quotation: “Like President Obama, Kerry is fatally attracted to the notion of a grand bargain…”
Mr. Camp has de=Camped.
Try it, turkey lips, and you’ll be ruled out the next election.
Relax - it’s the right thing to say at this point and there’s nothing wrong with “raising taxes” as long as it’s not done in a destructive way. So far the Republicans have done a pretty good job considering where they stand in congress and where they stand with the voters.
whatta bunch of liars.
the rinos are the enemies of the people they govern.
Our "true" tax rate should be around 1%, not 30%.
No more foreign aid and start shutting down government agencies.
It is not that difficult.
I think a lot of the renewed uncertainty came about beginning when that was passed.
Oh yeah, raising taxes will spur economic growth. Idiot.
The Republicans have sold us out. Thats clear. The country is lost. The only solution is Civil War II. Conservative against Liberal. Wipe the slate clean and start again with a limited government that our Founding Fathers would approve of.
I would draw everyone’s attention to the Rahn Curve. It shows that when government increases the marginal tax rate above 20% that people respond by earning less taxable income. Over time, federal tax revenues have run about 20% even when rates were far higher.
see: The Rahn Curve and the Growth-Maximizing Level of Government
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uj6lRFXC5rA
And then there is this:
“In 2008 about 320,000 Americans reported income of more than $1 million, or about 0.3% of all income tax returns. They paid about $250 billion in taxes that year. Mr. Conrad is going to get nearly $2 trillion more from them without damaging the economy? That should be some trick. ”
From the article, Conrad Wants $2 Trillion , on Senator Kent Conrad’s budget and tax ideas, from the WSJ, July 11, 2011.
Both of these citations show that anyone who is proposing a federal budget that includes an increase in the marginal tax rates cannot count on government actually realizing any higher revenues from that increase. Any projections based on increased taxes will be unrealized. Further, there are just not sufficient levels of income to tax. This means that the federal government MUST base a rational budget solely on cuts in spending. Any talk of “shared sacrifice” is vapid dreaming and we no longer have the prosperity and leeway to entertain liberals by giving in to their vapid dreams.
Of course, this is all apart from the issue that taxing the rich is just a thinly veiled form of petty coveting the wealth of others, and hoping to be able to get government to steal it from them (legally of course), so that there is more wealth to spread around on favorite programs. Never mind that the average government employee has a total compensation package of $123,049, as compared to the median household income of $52,029, at least according to USA Today and the US Bureau of the Census.
Its becoming increasingly clear that the largest difference between leftists & RINOs is their rhetoric.
As long as they raise taxes only on the people not paying any now, I am good with it.
Another typical Boner appointment.
You don’t win political battles by indicating a willingness to cave in before the debate even starts.
Does anyone hear the Democrats making nice with similar remarks about cutting off funding to NPR?
These meetings are going to be held behind closed doors. Just like ObamaCare. They need to be held in public and on CSpan. It would seem that since this is so important to the American people, they would have a right to know what is going on with our government. I may be wrong but it’s our country.
Yah, at this point I say give the democrats the tax hikes they screech about
Reduce depreciation on private jets, too many of them fly bigwigs to Vegas anyway (Harry Reid)
Hike the tax on hedge fund traders (Chuck Schumer’s donors)
Do away with deductions for charity, maybe it will cut into the party schedules of the Hollywood liberals and all those brain dead rich liberals in CT, NY, Chicag, LA and NJ that love obama enough to pay $35K to watch him take a squat
And go ahead and drop the mortgage deduction- someday my kids are going to rent our house from Fanny anyway
Rent ought to be pretty cheap after the housing market bellies up and sinks like a great white whale being harpooned too many times, by Cap’n Ahab Barky and his crew of democrats and RINO enablers
and Fanny can take over paying the property taxes, too, which just went up over 10%
“I don’t want to rule anything in or out,” Camp said.
O’really? How about automatic congressional pay raises?
Wasn’t the Super-Committee’s sole purpose is to identify spending cuts?
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