GOP plans to add $4 Trillion to deficit, doubling projections
By prioritizing tax cuts for the wealthiest of the wealthy, Mitch McConnell and the GOP are burdening future generations of Americans with debt that will never be paid off.
Over the last year, the GOP has railed against temporary measures that would help Americans who are looking for work, measures that would keep teachers and firefighters from being laid off, and – most appallingly – measures that would provide health benefits for the heroic Americans who risked their lives at the World Trade Center site after 9/11. But now the GOP wants to permanently add to the deficit so that the richest few people can shelter their millions for generation after generation.
It’s hypocritical, yes, but more importantly, it’s shameful and immoral.
Clipped from www.washingtonpost.com
Even as they hammer Democrats for running up record budget deficits, Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan to permanently extend an array of expiring tax breaks that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion over the next decade, nearly doubling projected deficits over that period unless dramatic spending cuts are made.
The measure, introduced by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) this week, would permanently extend the George W. Bush-era income tax cuts that benefit virtually every U.S. taxpayer, rein in the alternative minimum tax and limit the estate tax to estates worth more than $5 million for individuals or $10 million for couples.
But the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently forecast that a similar, slightly more expensive package that includes a full repeal of the estate tax would force the nation to borrow an additional $3.9 trillion over the next decade and increase interest payments on the national debt by $950 billion. That’s more than four times the projected deficit impact of President Obama’s health-care overhaul and stimulus package combined.
Asked how McConnell would cover the cost of his proposal, the Tax Hike Prevention Act, aides noted that he has backed a bipartisan plan to freeze spending that would save an estimated $300 billion over the next decade – a drop in the bucket compared with his $4 trillion-plus plan.
