The Daily Howler's Bob Somerby notes that vaunted straight talker John McCain told Charlie Rose that tax cuts increase revenue last Tuesday:
MCCAIN: We’ve presided over the largest increase in the size of government since the Great Society, and we didn’t pay for it. And I think—
ROSE: We didn’t pay for it because we had a tax cut that did not give us the revenue?
MCCAIN: Tax cuts—tax cuts increase revenues. The tax cuts, the revenues increased because of it. The spending outpaced the tax cuts.
And as Somerby also pointed out, Rudy Giuliani's latest TV ad includes yet another claim that tax cuts increase revenue:
When I became mayor of New York City, things were out of control. I lowered taxes, I reduced the growth of government, made government more accountable, and New York City boomed. I would do these things for America because I know they work. I know that reducing taxes produces more revenues. Democrats don’t know that. They don’t believe that. Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards — here’s a promise I assure you they’ll keep. They are making the promise to raise taxes. The only thing I can tell you in addition to that is, they’ll raise taxes even more than they promised. I’m Rudy Giuliani, and I approve this message.
Yet, as Somerby notes, the New York Times fact-check completely ignores the issue while the Washington Post ad watch falsely claims the effect of tax cuts on revenue is "a matter of fierce dispute among economists."
What's the point of fact-checking if you're not going to call Rudy on that claim? Even Bush administration economists disagree!
And of course, these aren't the first such statements from Rudy, McCain, or the GOP field in general. Giuliani made similar claims earlier this year (here and here), as did John McCain, Mitt Romney, and Fred Thompson (here and here). In fact, it would be worth asking if anyone in the GOP field disagrees. I doubt it.
Comments