REVENUE UP, DEFICIT DOWN – SO WHY ARE DEMS RAISING TAXES?

Via email:

This week House Democrats again voted to pass the largest tax hike in American history. The question on everyone’s mind is: WHY? Democrats claim they need to raise taxes to lower the deficit. But thanks to Republican tax relief, revenues are up and the federal deficit is falling sharply. According to AP:

“So far this year, tax revenues total $1.505 trillion, an increase of 11.2 percent over the same period last year. That figure includes $383.6 billion collected in April, the largest monthly tax collection on record. ...

“The Congressional Budget Office said that it now expects the deficit for all of 2007 to total between $150 billion and $200 billion. That would be a significant improvement from last year’s deficit of $248.2 billion, which had been the lowest imbalance in four years.”

This news further confirms what House Republicans have been saying all along: we can balance the budget without raising taxes on middle-class families. In an editorial titled “April Revenue Shower,” the Wall Street Journal writes:

“[Y[ou’d think this dramatic fiscal turnaround would cheer up Capitol Hill. Instead, Congressional Democrats seem to live in a parallel universe -- one that they claim is starved for revenues, with a runaway deficit, and is dominated by the rich who pay no taxes at all. The reality is that the wealthy are financing Democratic spending ambitions, and the deficit could easily vanish within a year or two if Congress has the good sense to leave current tax policy in place.”

Despite the fact that keeping taxes low for all Americans has played a major role in promoting economic growth, Investor’s Business Daily notes tax hikes could endanger the very economic progress we’ve made:

“[T]he new Democrat-led Congress has threatened not just to roll back Bush’s cuts, but to impose new taxes that would sink the economy.”

Indeed, the Democrats’ tax hikes target middle class families, married couples, and small businesses – the engines of economic growth. What they fail to realize is that not only does keeping taxes low for all Americans strengthen the economy (and drive up revenue to the federal government), but the real budget problem isn’t too little money – it’s too much spending. It is the coming explosion in Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid costs. These programs represent a fiscal tsunami that threatens to drown future generations in red ink -- and Democrats have failed to take action.

This week, House Republicans roundly opposed a budget plan raising the tax bill for every working American. As the latest deficit figures prove, we can balance the budget without raising taxes.