No GOP Candidate Is Closing the Revenue Gap
Republican presidential candidates (L-R) U.S. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX), former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich participate in a debate sponsored by CNN and the Republican Party of Arizona at the Mesa Arts Center February 22, 2012 in Mesa, Arizona (Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)
Today the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget released its scorecard of the Republican presidential candidates' long-term budget priorities. It turns out none of the candidates have budgets that can solve the long-term budget shortfall.
At the panel discussion about the report hosted by the New America Foundation, former Congressman Vic Fazio had troubling thoughts about the responsibility of the GOP's candidates' proposals:
"We have a historically low rate of taxation at 15% of GDP. Spending is at 23% of GDP. We have to move to close that gap. All of these proposals would widen it."
To be clear, Romney's plan seeks to reduce spending to 20% of GDP, and a growing economy could significantly expand tax revenues now slumping during the downturn. But the Governor's proposed tax cuts would cancel out some of these projected gains. The GOP's Norquistism remains the greatest sticking point to garnering good scores from impartial, non-partisan arbiters like this.
Committee member Alice Rivlin, former head of OMB and CBO, was especially gloomy:
"They all fail on the need to get more revenue."
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David Frum
David Frum is a contributing editor at Newsweek and The Daily Beast and a CNN contributor. He is the author of seven books, including most recently, his first novel Patriots published in April 2012.
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