One of the clearest wedge issues between Republicans and Democrats should be tax policy and it has always amazed me how Republicans have defaulted their natural advantage on this issue. Of course, the “read my lips” commitment of 1988 still haunts, but the most damaging to this advantage has been the failure (and often unwillingness) to defend the supply side tax policies of Ronald Reagan from the relentless assault of the media and the political left. Without getting tangled in the arcana of tax policy, we should focus the debate on these points: (1) the current economic expansion dates from 1982, not 1993, and began with the Reagan marginal tax rate cut, (2) Federal taxes as a share of GDP have increased to 21%, the highest since World War II, (3) the goal of tax policy should be economic growth, not redistribution, (4) dynamic (behavior based) scoring of tax rate cuts is proven methodology, (5) there are only two things government can do with a surplus – spend it or refund it, and (6) whose money is it, anyway?
