Bedward Family - Commentary

The Republican Tax Ruse
Craig Bedward

Clearly the Democrats love raising taxes and ever-increasing spending. They use the money they take from us to turn around and bribe us with entitlements, hoping we will all want more and more of what only they can do for us. It is so transparently obvious that I have never fallen for it.

What I have fallen for is a similar, but more subtle strategy used by the Republicans. In theory, Republicans stand for less taxes and a smaller, cheaper government. In theory. Bush has just cut taxes for the second time in his first three years. The cuts are insignificant compared to what he is willing keep. And much of the cuts don't take effect for years, at which point it may be altered away by succeeding administrations. During the first tax cut, the Republicans totaled up the cut for a 10-year period and used that big number to make it seem like they were making large cuts. But when it came down to it, in the year of the cut, most taxpayers paid thousands and thousands of dollars and got a check for 600 bucks. 

Now don't misunderstand, I've never met a tax cut I didn't like. But as I have watched the games played with these last two cuts, the scheme started to become more transparent. While the Democrats buy votes by promising entitlements, the Republicans buy them by promising cash. Taxes should be cut because people deserve to not have their money stolen by the government. If tax "refunds" are used to produce a "what a great guy this President is" effect, I think the real motive is betrayed. The refund was paid out of the "surplus" but it was only part of the "surplus." If it was right to return money the government stole, then isn't it right to return all of the stolen money? Again, it betrays the fact that not even the Republicans think the money is ours; they think it is theirs. And they use just enough of it to buy our votes, just enough to keep us thinking of them as the ones advocating smaller government, but not enough to actually make the government smaller.

But the biggest eye-opener has been a different argument that is made every time a tax cut is discussed. The Democrats start their whining, "How do we to pay for the cut?" -- a nonsensical question that shows they are too far off-base to bother with a discussion here. Besides, this column is not about the evil Democrats; it's about the evil Republicans. The most interesting part of the debate is the response from the Republicans. We've all heard it, "If you cut the tax rate it stimulates the economy. More people pay taxes and the net effect is that the government collects more, even though the rates are lower." As much as I understand economics, I can agree with that statement. It makes sense to me. Let the people keep more of their own money, they will spend, start businesses, travel, and anything else they can think of to blow their new-found wealth. So, I don't debate the soundness of the theory. And for years I have accepted this response as the "right answer."

But think about what the statement really means. Republicans want to cut taxes in order to increase the money being sent to Washington. Did you catch that? The net result is more money for them. Increased taxes. They want to cut taxes in order increase taxes. Exactly how does that make Republicans advocates for smaller government? The game they are playing is not cutting the revenue that goes to government. They don't want to cut taxes, they want to cut tax rates. They are counting on an overall tax increase.

The fact is, a tax cut alone is meaningless toward reducing the size of government. Oddly enough the only way to reduce the size of government is to reduce the size of government. When Republicans start advocating size reductions, I'll believe their sincerity. When they close down government offices, even entire branches, I'll start to believe. It is hard to believe when they hand out cuts at the same time as they create an entirely new bureaucracy in the Department of Homeland Security. Until there is a sincere effort at making the government do with less, their tax cuts are just a ruse. They are entitlements palatable to conservatives who didn't notice they were being duped. Well, I have finally noticed. And I for one am no longer falling for it.