Thursday, June 12, 2008

Balancing the books

Dick Cheney, speaking before one of the few safe non-uniformed audiences for him, the US Chamber of Commerce --

Understandably, politicians who promise to get rid of the Bush tax cuts don't want to get into these details. They also neglect to point out that ending the tax cuts would hike the total Federal tax burden to about 20 percent of our Gross Domestic Product - nearly the highest ever. That would be a staggering burden on the nation's households, and it would throw discredit on the lawmakers who permitted government greed to reach that level.

Consider this horror level of 20 percent of GDP in taxes. Federal government spending as a percentage of GDP has been just at or above that level every year since 2003. On current projections, the final Bush-Cheney year in office could see it at 21 percent.

Thus Cheney is complaining about the average tax take required to actually pay for his level of government spending. The government greed is in the decision to spend, not the decision to tax. Discredit, indeed.

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