How Would You Reduce the Deficit?

Kathryn Nix / November 16, 2010

Last week, the co-chairs of the President’s deficit commission released a report of possible proposals for the commission’s final report. Recommendations included cuts to discretionary, mandatory, and defense spending as well as tax increases.

The report was a good start to the debate and will gauge the readiness of lawmakers and private citizens to make the difficult decisions needed to reduce the deficit.

However, the co-chairs’ proposal does not go far enough in addressing entitlement spending and also includes burdensome tax hikes and irresponsible cuts in defense. Heritage expert Alison Fraser writes that the report takes “a 50/50 approach to eliminating the deficits and lowering the projected trajectory of the debt through tax increases and spending cuts. As revenues are projected to soon return to their historical level—even if the [2001 and 2003] tax cuts are made permanent—spending is clearly the problem.” (more…)