One of the handiest tools in the Democrats’ bag of rhetorical tricks is the habit of talking about tax cuts as though they were spending increases. And that’s what they’re going to do in the debate over keeping the Bush tax cuts — they’re already doing it, in fact, as I remark over at Exchequer, our new debt-and-deficits blog.
Republicans do a pretty good job at making the counterargument, i.e. that letting people keep their own money is in reality a different thing from spending money, that Americans’ money is their own, not something that they keep a peasant’s share of at the sufferance of Their Lordships in Washington. But here’s what I don’t understand: With Obama out there talking about “calling their bluff” when it comes to his fiscal critics, why not call the Democrats’ bluff first? Why not offer up a dollar-for-dollar spending-cut agenda to match the tax cuts?
Republicans don’t have to concede the rhetorical point to say, Fine, we’ll identify some spending cuts to go along with our tax cuts. Federal spending is a target-rich environment, and identifying a couple hundred billion in cuts should not be that hard, even for members of Congress. Spending hawks have the momentum on their side — it’s hard to imagine a better political environment for them.
More thoughts here.