Tax Cuts Today Are Tax Increases for our Children

In June of 2003, Pete Peterson wrote a blistering attack in the New York Times Magazine on Deficits and Dysfyunction caused by the Bush Administration. He notes that the 10-year budget balance when Bush took over was projected to be a surplus of $5.6 trillion and that Bush tax cut policies quickly turned that into a projected deficit of well over $4 billion. "So there you have it: in just two years there was a $10 billion swing in the deficit outlook. Coming into power, the Republican Leaders faced a choice between tax cuts and providing genuine financing for the future of Social Security. (What a landmark reform this would have been!) They chose tax cuts. After 9/11, they faced a choice between tax cuts and getting serious about the extensive measures needed to protect this nation against further terrorist attacks. They chose tax cuts. After war broke out in the Mideast, they faced a choice between tax cuts and galvanizing the nation behind a policy of future-oriented burden sharing. Again and again, they chose tax cuts."