海角大神

Dear Mr. President:

With all due respect, I write this open letter to you as an economist and as a mom. Just like parents ought to know , I think you, Mr. President, ought to know where your tax policy is鈥揺mphasis on your鈥搊n April 15th. It鈥檚 your 鈥渂aby鈥� now, this complicated thing called the U.S. federal tax system.

For all the complaining you have done on your Senate campaign trail, and then your presidential campaign trail, and now even as President about how unaffordable and unfair and in general not very smart the Bush tax cuts were, why is it that the centerpiece of your鈥揺mphasis on your鈥搕ax policy thus far is the deficit-financed extension of the vast majority of these very same (not very smart) tax cuts?

Why do you spend over $2 trillion in your budget鈥搕he most you spend on any single policy item鈥搊n your predecessor鈥檚 tax policy, which you repeatedly explain is to blame for the deterioration and unsustainability of our nation鈥檚 fiscal outlook? Meanwhile, you took back your own ideas for new tax policy鈥搒uch as the permanent extension of the Making Work Pay tax credit鈥揵ecause you decided to put higher standards on your own tax cuts and actually pay for them (offset their cost with offsetting revenue increases such as climate change revenues), and Congress (even your own Congress) therefore balked.

I have news for you: you鈥檙e in charge now! You aren鈥檛 stuck with the (not very smart) Bush tax cuts鈥搉ot any part of them! You are the one who will have to sign an entirely new piece of legislation in order to keep any part of the Bush tax cuts after this year. You hold the reins. You don鈥檛 have to stay on the Bush path. You don鈥檛 even have to stay on the Bush tax policy horse. You can switch horses altogether and go down a better path on your better horse.

You have the human capital to take these reins and do much better. Your economic team is comprised of some of the world鈥檚 foremost experts on tax policy鈥搒uch as your NEC chair Larry Summers and your CEA member Austan Goolsbee and your OMB director Peter Orszag. If any of them were made fiscal policy 鈥渒ings of the day,鈥� would they decide that deficit-financed extension of the Bush tax cuts (even if 鈥渙nly鈥� for 95 percent of households) is the best tax policy they could come up with? I suspect not, but just ask them. It is a fun thing to talk around the water cooler about on Tax Day.

I know you made an unfortunate campaign promise on tax policy that you feel bound to鈥搕o not raise taxes on any households with income under $250,000. But isn鈥檛 it more important to keep your greater (at least implicit) promise to the American people on keeping our economy strong, putting us on a better path (鈥漜hanging鈥� course), and leaving the nation in decent shape for our kids? You can鈥檛 keep both promises, and to me as an economist and as a mom鈥揳nd I hope to you as our leader and a dad鈥搃t鈥檚 obvious which one you should abandon.

Happy Tax Day!

Respectfully,

EconomistMom

------------------------------

海角大神 has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on the link above.