In a weekend New York Sun column, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich warned against the creation of a “bipartisan fiscal commission.”
Gingrich wrote:
Most Republicans oppose tax increases. They strongly favor lower taxes, fewer regulations, and smaller government. They like faster economic growth and increased take home pay. However, a small but influential wing of the Republican Party has a passion for supposed bipartisanship. These Republicans inevitably end up supporting higher taxes, more government, bigger bureaucracy, more regulations, and slower economic growth.
Senator Mitt Romney’s Bipartisan Fiscal Commission proposal is a good example of the latter’s work. The proposal, co-written with Senator Joe Manchin, clearly calls for tax increases. For starters, the senators have publicly expressed openness to lifting the Federal Insurance Contribution Act cap, which cuts off Social Security and Medicare taxes after a certain income level.
Romney and Manchin want to use the commission to impose a steep Biden-style payroll tax increase that would be a devastating blow to small and mid sized businesses and the self-employed. Gingrich offered an alternative to the proposed commission:
Simply focus on cutting spending, bureaucracy, and regulations. Then pass pro-growth tax cuts. Controlling spending, reforming programs, and cutting taxes and regulations will dramatically increase economic growth. Revenues will then increase even with a lower tax rate. This can lead to a balanced budget.
Gingrich noted that putting tax increases on the table with a fiscal commission is an unserious way to tackle the spending problem:
We also know there is a huge difference between a fiscal commission and a serious effort to reform and cut spending.
Read the entire piece at the New York Sun here.