Bigger Deficits for Bad Tax Cuts Is a Bad Deal

Tax debates make for strange bedfellows. During the long, slow recovery from the Great Recession, Americans became accustomed to a familiar economic debate -- Keynesians, usually aligned with the Democratic Party, would call for more government spending in order to stimulate the economy, while Republicans would call for cuts in outlays. Eventually, a compromise was reached, though dangerous theatrics were involved and nobody was overjoyed with the result. From 2011 to 2013, the large federal deficits that were a tool used to fight the recession were mostly eliminated:

But now, with Republicans on the verge of adopting big tax cuts, the lines of debate have shifted. Some of the people calling for stimulus a few years ago are now worried about the tax plan’s effect on the deficit. Economist Larry Summers, for example, who has long called for fiscal stimulus to fight the slow growth that he calls “secular stagnation,” has excoriated the bill’s supporters for downplaying how much the tax cuts would add to the debt.