A third option

More often than not, tax cuts lead to an increase in tax revenues. This has been true both in America and abroad. The Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017 was passed a couple of years ago; and as predicted, the IRS collected 4% more in taxes in 2019 than it did in 2018.

Our $23 trillion national debt is not a collection problem; it is a spending problem. The federal government spends more than it collects, but if it attempts to collect too much, it will experience a reduction in collected revenues. The Republicans can take credit for increasing revenue collection, but they share culpability with Democrats for our profligate spending. The current lineup of Democratic presidential hopefuls promises to use the force of their elected authority to increase spending and reduce revenue collection (through higher taxes). With that said, our president has proven he supports higher revenue collection (lower taxes) but even higher spending, which leads to perpetual deficits.

We need a third option: higher revenue collection (through optimally low taxes) and reduced spending. Unfortunately, this third option depends entirely on voters not falling victim at election time to charlatans who promise it is possible to achieve prosperity through higher taxes on others while enjoying higher spending on them themselves.

Joe Coco, Whitefish