John Carney Offers Confused Policy On Taxes And Debt
In 2010, Democratic partisans celebrated a victory in Delaware when John Carney took the seat in the U.S. House of Representatives that had long been held by
Michael Castle. Though this contest resulted in a clear win for the Democratic Party, however, it’s less clear whether it will be to the advantage of progressives to have John Carney in Congress.
Carney’s questionable progressive credentials came into focus this week as Barack Obama’s decision to support tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans created a stark rift within the Democratic Party between progressive Democrats and right wing Blue Dogs. Carney’s position seems to support President Obama’s surrender to the Republicans. Like Obama, Carney seeks to cut taxes for millionaires and even billionaires.
At the same time, however, Carney claims to support the debt reduction. Bringing these two ideas together, Carney states that he wants to “extend tax cuts for all Americans while we work to determine a long-term policy for reducing our national debt.”
The math is simple. Lowering taxes for millionaires and billionaires doesn’t reduce the national debt. It increases the national debt.
Carney may dodge the bullet of having to reconcile his claims of favoring debt reduction and lower taxes – for now. If Barack Obama can work with the Republicans in Congress and a few breakaway Democrats, tax cuts for the rich may be passed as the last act of the 111th Congress, without Carney having to cast a vote. The incoherent policy of debt reduction through tax cuts cannot hold, however, and eventually, Congressman Carney will have to come out as either a deficit hawk or a tax panderer.
