The Misguided 18 Percent Budget Solution

Dec. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Since 1950, federal revenue hasaveraged about 18 percent of gross domestic product -- 17.8percent of GDP, to be exact. A neat bit of trivia, but whocares?

Lots of people, it seems. Republicans on the House BudgetCommittee, in a news release titled “The Impact of Looming TaxIncreases,” emphasize that “federal revenue rose to 18.5percent of gross domestic product in fiscal year 2007, wellabove the 50-year historical average of 18 percent.” Thisproves, they say, that “tax relief did not cause today’sdeficits.”