The federal deficit is rising. Social Security and Medicare need repairs, as does the tax code. Federal domestic investments are being squeezed and the nation’s debt is on an unsustainable course.
Yet so far the presidential candidates have not said much about these issues, according to Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby.
The federal deficit is rising. Social Security and Medicare need repairs, as does the tax code. Federal domestic investments are being squeezed and the nation’s debt is on an unsustainable course.
Yet so far the presidential candidates have not said much about these issues, according to Concord Coalition Executive Director Robert L. Bixby.
“To hear the candidates tell it,” he writes in a Charlotte Observer op-ed, “you would think all is well and the only questions are how much we should cut taxes or increase spending.”
He notes that Donald Trump has floated a tax-cut plan that would reduce federal revenues by roughly $10 trillion over 10 years. Yet Trump’s vague promises to cut waste would be far from enough to offset the lost revenue.
Hillary Clinton has proposed more than $1 trillion of new spending, paid for with a roughly equivalent amount of tax increases. Her proposals would not dig the fiscal hole much deeper, Bixby writes, but the tax increases would not help pay for the unfunded promises the government has already made.
In coming months, the candidates will have opportunities — starting with their convention acceptance speeches — to show more fiscal leadership. Bixby urges them to “set aside the partisan platitudes and begin to level with voters.”
