Balanced: Tax Revenues Are Only Down 2% From 2008, But Spending Is Up 27%

Our “balanced approach” friends would tell us that this decline in revenues proves their case for tax hikes. But does it really? The decline in revenue didn’t have anything to do with tax cuts and everything to do with an economic collapse the nation has been slow to recover from. We’re going to fix that with dramatic increases in taxes, including taxes on investment income specifically?
Here’s the reality: tax revenues in FY2012 were only 2.17% lower than FY2008, but spending is more than 27% higher.
Now, again, our friends on the left insist that we must have a “balanced” deficit reduction package that incorporates both spending cuts and tax increases. But the budget problem isn’t balanced. The budget problem is almost entirely a spending problem.

Read the whole thing

Say Anything Balanced: Tax Revenues Are Only Down 2% From 2008, But Spending Is Up 27% » Say Anything