Kirk is not a true fiscal conservative

Mark Kirk has consistently promoted himself as a fiscal conservative. However, his voting record does not back up that claim.

His votes for the Bush tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, both of which were unfunded, have, according to the Citizens for Tax Justice, helped add $2,484.9 trillion to the federal deficit since they were enacted into law.

Kirk now wants to make these tax cuts permanent.

According to Congress' Joint Committee on Taxation, making all the Bush cuts permanent would add trillions over the next decade. Interest on this debt would add even more trillions of dollars. Maintaining taxes on only the wealthiest earners as proposed by the Obama administration would save $700 billion. Kirk opposes this option.

Kirk wants to eliminate the estate tax. According to the Center for Budget and Tax Priorities, total elimination would cost trillions of dollars over ten years. Extending the tax just for the wealthiest 1 percent would save $633 billion. But Kirk is against this.

Kirk was a strong supporter of the unnecessary war in Iraq. To date, that war has cost $770.7 billion. This does not include the more than 4,000 men and women who died or the 32,000-plus wounded. And the cost will continue well into the next decade.

A fiscal conservative? I think not.

Stuart Kronish

Highland Park