Submitted by: Donald Hank
What should Speaker John Boehner do?
Tell the president politely that America's problem is not that we are taxed too little but that we spend too much– and the GOP will not sign on either to tax rate or tax revenue increases. For Republicans believe that would further injure the economy – especially an economy limping along at between 1 and 2 percent growth.
Who's Afraid of the Fiscal Cliff?
Were the average Republican asked for a succinct statement of his views on taxation, he or she might respond thus:
"U.S. tax rates are too high for the world we must compete in. The tax burden – federal, state, local, together – is too heavy. We need to cut tax rates to free up our private and productive sector and pull this economy out of the ditch."
This core conviction holds the party together.
Yet today the leadership is about to abandon this conviction to sign on to higher tax rates or revenues, while the economy is nearing stall speed. Yet, two years ago, President Obama himself extended the Bush tax cuts because, he said, you do not raise taxes in a recovering economy.
Why are Republicans negotiating this capitulation?
