BrianGarst.com

The Wall Street Journal reports on a “rift” among Republicans on whether or not tax hikes should be on the table:

Two decades after President George H.W. Bush abandoned his “read my lips” promise, some Republicans are chafing at their party’s stand against new taxes.

A few prominent GOP lawmakers believe they will have to raise some tax revenue if they are to bring Democrats along on a bipartisan compromise to address the U.S.’s long-term fiscal problems. Many Democrats want higher taxes to cover at least part of future budget gaps. That has led to clashes between Republican lawmakers and a Washington advocacy group, Americans for Tax Reform, the self-appointed keeper of the party’s anti-tax flame.

Grover Norquist, the group’s president, said he has “sent up a flare” against placing trust in Democrats, given how bipartisan agreements, including the one struck by then-President Bush in 1990, eventually unraveled. Those tax increases took effect as scheduled, but Democrats didn’t always deliver on promised spending cuts, Mr. Norquist said.

Tom Coburn (R., Okla.), one lawmaker targeted by Mr. Norquist’s group, is having none of it. “These fights … help raise money for interest groups, but they don’t do anything for solving problems,” he said.

I’d be interested to see the rest of Coburn’s quote in full, because he’s making no sense here. What is proven not to solve problems is giving more money to politicians. Grover Norquist is right: everytime Republicans show how ‘reasonable’ they are by bargaining with Democrats for a combination of tax hikes and spending cuts, the result is always more taxes and no cuts. How many times must Lucy pull the football out from under Charlie Brown before he learns his lesson?

This entire “rift” is a function of fundamentally misunderstanding the problem Washington faces. Too many Republicans are content to consider it a deficit or debt problem, but these are just symptoms of the disease that is federal spending. If closing the budget deficit entails placing greater burdens on the economy through higher taxes and larger government, it is a step in the wrong direction. Today’s federal government is simply too large, and must be shrunk. The only proven way to shrink government is to shrink government.

Handing politicians yet more tax dollars to spend not only won’t shrink government, it won’t even reduce the deficit. They will just spend it. It’s time for the Charlie Brown Republicans to stop falling into these big government traps.

government spending Republicans