This morning on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Obama debt commission co-chairmen Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles discussed their recently released fiscal plan.  Simpson falsely claimed that the plan was not a tax increase:

“You can come in here with your no taxes, I mean, I think Grover Norquist will be irrelevant in a year, because if he's calling this a tax increase, he's in Disneyland."

–Obama Debt Commission Co-Chair Alan Simpson
“Morning Joe,” November 19, 2010

 

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

That’s an odd statement considering page 11 of Alan Simpson’s own plan admits that the plan raises net taxes by $1 trillion over the next decade (see below).  ATR has released our own balanced budget plan which cuts spending and cuts taxes to grow the economy.

On June 30, Norquist appeared in person and submitted testimony before the Simpson-Bowles commission.  Included in the testimony is fourteen specific ideas to reduce government spending.

“The proposal by Simpson and Bowles, by its own admission, raises taxes by one trillion dollars over the next decade,said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “Rather than attacking American taxpayers for noticing there is a trillion dollars in tax hikes in their proposal — and lying about it on national television — Simpson and Bowles should listen to the message voters sent on election day: Washington DC has an overspending problem, not an under-taxing problem.”
 

 

Click here to view the PDF