Issue Position: Lowering Debt

Issue Position

Q: What are you prepared to do to lower the debt?

A: Well first, we need to be honest with one another. When we return after the election, Congress will certainly take up the issue of extending the Bush tax cuts. The plain truth is, without spending cuts, tax cuts always increase our federal deficit. In these hard times, middle-class families cannot afford higher taxes. I support the extension of middle class tax cuts. But the truth is the wealthiest 400 taxpayers in 2007 -- who earned an average of more than $340 million dollars each that year -- paid only 17 percent of their income in tax, a lower rate than many middle class families. We can afford, and pay for, tax relief for all Americans, but we have to be straight with our fellow citizens. Extending tax cuts for those with income over $250,000 a year will break our budget. Giving more to the wealthiest 2% of Americans will cost more than the stimulus, and neutral economist agree, will create few jobs.

The debate over extending tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans is a clear example of the disingenuous nature of our national discussion about our debt. We can disagree on priorities, but at the very least we need to be honest with one another about the costs in real dollars of the policies we enact. The Constitution mandates that the federal government: "establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity". Those obligations cost a great deal of money. We would be well served as we seek to get our arms around our national debt to be forthright in our discussions and realistic in our approach.

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