Last updated on July 18th, 2023 at 01:26 pm
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves suggested that Biden pay for infrastructure by cutting taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Video:
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves says infrastructure is “something the federal government, the state government and local government should spend more of our resources on but we don’t have to hike taxes by $2 trillion to do it” #CNNSOTU https://t.co/cPul2rjoL1 pic.twitter.com/i1NSryMKrR
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— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) April 4, 2021
Gov. Reeves said on CNN’s State of the Union:
Well, I think you pay for it in a number of different ways.
One way you pay for it is by seeing significant improved economic growth. We saw that throughout the Trump administration because the policies were pro-business, they were pro-growth, and revenues improved.
Now, unfortunately, during those four years, like the four years before that, they did not in Washington get control of spending. They feel as if the debt doesn’t matter. You’re looking at a debt burden today of nearly $30 trillion for Americans.
And what’s ultimately going to happen — and it’s already happening — as interest rates rise, the share of our annual budget that goes to pay for interest expense is going to rise from what is already an enormous level of 15 to 20 percent of all federal revenues goes to pay interest expense.
Gov. Reeves was lying about the reason why the national debt exploded under Trump. It wasn’t spending that caused the debt to grow. It was the tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that caused a hole in the national debt that it will take decades to repair.
The Trump tax cut alone caused the federal budget deficit to soar by 31%.
The Trump tax cut for the wealthy did not increase revenue. It blew a hole in the federal debt that it will take generations to fix. The Trump tax cut did not grow the economy or raise wages.
Republicans have subscribed so deeply to the fallacy that tax cuts for the wealthy generate revenue that they have deluded themselves into believing that they can pay for programs by taking revenue away from the treasury.
Republicans can no longer do basic math. Two minuses do not equal a plus.
The worst thing that Joe Biden could do would be to follow any economic policy of Donald Trump.
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Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
