U.S. also has a revenue problem

There is a Republican talking point/phrase that is constantly repeated by both the Republican media and Republican members of Congress and it is: “The government doesn’t have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem.”

While it is true that the government spends too much, it is also true that the government has a serious revenue problem. The 2011 budget is almost $3.7 trillion, and of that amount mandatory spending — Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, health, income security, interest on the debt, defense and veterans benefits — account for almost $2.8 trillion of the total budget.

So when Republicans who refuse to cut military spending (about $900 billion) say that the government doesn’t have a revenue problem they are insulting the intelligence of the American people. One of the reasons that the debt is $14.3 trillion is that Republicans have insisted on cutting taxes while the country has been engaged in two wars; which by the way is the first time in our history that taxes have been cut while the country was at war.

Spending has to be cut, and military spending should not be exempt. Social Security and Medicare will have to be reformed, but along with these reforms and spending cuts, there will have to be temporary tax increases to pay for the cost of wars and spending mandated by law.

Victor Darst

West Dundee