Earth To GOP: Tax Cuts Are Never Free

When I was young, Republicans used to be serious about budget deficits. No longer. Their current position regarding the federal budget deficit is so unserious as to be ludicrous. Even bonehead arithmetic, like I did earlier this week, shows that tax cuts don't increase revenue. Cutting taxes for the wealthy shifts the tax burden to the middle class, helps raise interest rates, and depresses consumption. It does NOT help the middle class in any way!:

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) probably didn't realize the impact his remarks would have. The right-wing Arizonan was asked on Fox News how his party would pay for $678 billion in tax cuts for the wealthy, which Republicans are currently demanding. Kyl said what he actually believed: Republicans wouldn't pay for them, and thinks it's a mistake to even try. Spending should be paid for, Kyl said, but tax cuts shouldn't.

Kyl later said his bizarre views are endorsed by "most of the people in my party." As Brian Beutler discovered, that's apparently true.:

"That's been the majority Republican view for some time," Minority Leader Mitch McConnell told TPMDC this afternoon after the weekly GOP press conference. "That there's no evidence whatsoever that the Bush tax cuts actually diminished revenue. They increased revenue, because of the vibrancy of these tax cuts in the economy. So I think what Senator Kyl was expressing was the view of virtually every Republican on that subject."