In advance of today’s vote on the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform’s report, there has been increased attention on the nation’s fiscal health and the serious dangers posed by our out-of-control national debt. But while this issue has garnered increased scrutiny, some continue to ignore the real cause of our debt and deficit problems—rampant spending—focusing instead on raising taxes.
The debt commission’s recommendations are a perfect example. Heritage today put out a comprehensive WebMemo analyzing this problem with the report, noting that while it contains modest reforms, it fails to adequately tackle our most severe problems, recommending instead raising taxes by $3.3 trillion over the next decade.
As we have explained in the past, raising taxes does nothing to address the root causes of our current fiscal problems. At a fundamental level, our country has a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Only by cutting spending and addressing real entitlement reform will we be able change course.
And despite criticism that clear, actionable cuts have not been identified, Heritage has highlighted over $343 billion in spending cuts that could and should be enacted immediately. We highlight several of these cuts in our new video and encourage you to read the paper for the full list.
These cuts will not be enough by itself—more needs to be done—but they are a good start.
