The Truth About the GOP Agenda - The Republican Plan to Double the Deficit

Here's a startling example of GOP hypocrisy on the deficit that will cost American taxpayers more than $4 trillion over the next 10 years.

From today's Washington Post:

…Senate Republicans are rolling out a plan to permanently extend an array of expiring tax breaks that would deprive the Treasury of more than $4 trillion over the next decade, nearly doubling projected deficits over that period unless dramatic spending cuts are made…

Not only do the American people oppose giving a $700 billion tax cut to the wealthiest few, there is ample evidence that extending cuts for top 2 percent is not the best way to help our economy.

CBO Director Douglas Elmendorf:

"Policies that temporarily increased the after-tax income of people who are relatively well off would probably have little effect on their spending because they generally would be able finance their consumption out of their income or assets without such a change."

Bloomberg, "Rich Americans Save Tax Cuts Instead of Spending, Moody's Says"

Hand the wealthiest Americans a tax cut and history suggests they will save the money rather than spend it.

Tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 under President George W. Bush were followed by increases in the saving rate among the rich, according to data from Moody's Analytics Inc. When taxes were raised under Bill Clinton, the saving rate fell.

Joseph Stiglitz, Nobel Prize Winning Economist:

"… extending the tax cuts for America's wealthiest 2 percent would be a big mistake. Resources are scarce — even in a rich country — and this is not the way to spend the government's scarce dollars…it makes no sense to extend these tax cuts — which the country could not afford in the first place — to upper-income Americans, who have done so well for the past quarter-century. Extending their tax cuts just increases the national debt — with little stimulus."

Democrats are committed to tax relief for American workers, their families and small businesses. Congressional Democrats and President Obama will permanently cut taxes for 98 percent of Americans and 97 percent of small businesses – and help get the Bush-Republican deficit under control.