The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility launched last week, and the Commission members all expressed concern about the growing debt. Reaching agreement that our nation is on an unsustainable trajectory was always going to be the easy part. The real challenge is figuring out how to fix the problem.
Commission members will receive recommendations from many economists and scholars. They should also listen to the American people. As a new poll from Rasmussen shows, the American people overwhelmingly want government to cut spending—not raise taxes—to reduce the debt.
According to the survey, less than one in five voters is willing to pay more taxes to lower the federal budget deficit. That’s probably because two-thirds of Americans believe that the country is already over-taxed, and more than eight in ten believe that the federal deficit is the result of politicians overspending, not a lack of tax revenue.
Americans are also skeptical that politicians will really pay down the debt if they get additional tax revenue. Rasmussen reports that 58 percent of voters think that even if the president and Congress raise taxes to reduce the deficit, Washington is more likely to spend the money on new government programs than to actual pay down the debt.
Yet a majority of voters also expect that the fiscal commission will come out in favor of tax increases instead of spending cuts. And nearly 8 in 10 think Congress will take the Commission’s advice and raise taxes.
As our new video highlights, just returning per capita government spending to the levels we had in the 1990s would eliminate the deficit in three years. The key to returning to fiscal security in this country is to cut government spending, not to raise taxes. Government spending depresses private investment, stunts job creation and hurts economic growth. Here’s hoping the Commission surprises us by actually listening to the American people and their policy preferences. After all, it is average Americans who bear the effects of Washington’s policies. The Commission members would be wise to remember that.
Tags: bankrupting america, debt, deficit, Government Overspending, Government Spending, National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility & Reform, poll, rasmussen, tax increase, taxes
