'Now is not the time to raise taxes on the American people'

[Enrique]

http://www.politico.com/blogs/politicolive/0111/Daley_rules_out_raising_taxes.html

(...)

In an interview on CBS's "Face the Nation" Sunday, Daley embraced a line more commonly heard from Republicans over the last two years.

"I don’t think raising taxes on the American people right now is the right way to go at this point of our economy," Daley said.

(...)


Since this is coming from Politico, I decided to check out their claim about "more commonly heard from Republicans over the last two years."

A Google search on the wording suggests that Politico is understating the case badly. In reality, the wording is nearly if not totally exclusively used by Republicans, one Republican in particular. Daley channeled George W. Bush yesterday on TV.

[ProSense]

1. "Daley rules out raising gas tax"

You think the gas tax should be raised?


Edited for clarification.

[Fuddnik]

2. Funny. I thought we already had one.

[ProSense]

3. Raising it.

I think you know what I mean, but I'll edit for clarification.

[Enrique]

4. yes

you ask as if it's out of the question, which it's not. People have always thought our gas tax is too low.

[ProSense]

6. Call Lindsey Graham,

Charles Krauthammer and the other conservatives who have been pushing this hard lately.

[Mimosa]

11. "People have always thought our gas tax is too low. " Who? Rich people? LOL n/t

[BklnDem75]

5. Honestly...

Should we start making a list of terms not say because the GOP said it?

[dkf]

7. I see it as more of an economic truism regarding recessions and slow growth.

[Enrique]

8. a Republican truism, yes

but not an economic truism.

[dkf]

9. For those that think there is something to Keynesian economics...

Which is also the basis for the stimulus plans.

[rfranklin]

10. The best job growth that we have had was always under higher taxes...

Even the weak-minded Gipper new that

In 1982, with the economy in the second part of its double-dip recession, Reagan signed a tax increase, meant to reduce the deficit. Here’s Bruce Bartlett, writing at Forbes.com:

According to a recent Treasury Department study, Ronald Reagan proposed the largest peacetime tax increase in American history as part of a budget deal to get the federal deficit under control. The Tax Equity and Fiscal Responsibility Act (TEFRA) of 1982 was signed into law on Sept. 3, and most of its provisions took effect on Jan. 1, 1983.

During debate on TEFRA, many conservatives predicted economic disaster. They argued that raising taxes in the midst of a severe recession was exactly the wrong thing to do. “Every school child knows you don’t raise taxes in a recession unless you want to make it worse,” The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page warned. Said Rep. Newt Gingrich, “I think it will make the economy sicker.” The Chamber of Commerce of the U.S. said it had “no doubt that it will curb the economic recovery everyone wants.”

Looking at the data, however, it is very hard to see any evidence that TEFRA had a negative effect on growth. Indeed, one could easily make a case that its enactment stimulated growth.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/03/tax-cuts-and-recoveries/