Senator McCain Digs In
NYT editorial
Senator John McCain’s speech on taxes last week was widely seen as a stay-the-Bush-course pledge. Not true. Mr. McCain would dig a much deeper hole than even President Bush, exactly what the country does not need. Mr. Bush is already bequeathing his successor a government deep in debt, ill prepared to meet foreseeable challenges — health care, road and bridge repair, alternative energy — let alone emergencies.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCain has reversed his earlier passionate — and correct — opposition to the Bush tax cuts. He now calls for permanently extending them. He also proposes to repeal the alternative minimum tax. Those two proposals alone would reduce tax revenue by $1 trillion over four years.
His speech did not stop there. He proposed doubling the dependent exemption, to $7,000 per child, cutting revenue by $171 billion more over four years. He said the increase was needed to keep up with inflation, but the exemption has been adjusted for inflation every year since 1982. Then there’s his idea to suspend the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gasoline tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That would cost the highway trust fund $10 billion.
(Continued here.)
Senator John McCain’s speech on taxes last week was widely seen as a stay-the-Bush-course pledge. Not true. Mr. McCain would dig a much deeper hole than even President Bush, exactly what the country does not need. Mr. Bush is already bequeathing his successor a government deep in debt, ill prepared to meet foreseeable challenges — health care, road and bridge repair, alternative energy — let alone emergencies.
Unfortunately, Mr. McCain has reversed his earlier passionate — and correct — opposition to the Bush tax cuts. He now calls for permanently extending them. He also proposes to repeal the alternative minimum tax. Those two proposals alone would reduce tax revenue by $1 trillion over four years.
His speech did not stop there. He proposed doubling the dependent exemption, to $7,000 per child, cutting revenue by $171 billion more over four years. He said the increase was needed to keep up with inflation, but the exemption has been adjusted for inflation every year since 1982. Then there’s his idea to suspend the 18.4-cents-a-gallon federal gasoline tax from Memorial Day to Labor Day. That would cost the highway trust fund $10 billion.
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home