“Today, in an editorial, the Grand Forks Herald correctly pointed out that Senator Conrad's budget does not pass the smell test. His continued claims that his budget does not raise taxes are just not true. Liberal media outlets like the New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times report that Conrad’s budget lets some of President Bush’s tax cuts expire. That is a tax increase and no amount of spin, double talk or flip-flopping can disguise the fact that the Democrats voted to raise taxes. The Grand Forks Herald is correct. The voters of North Dakota deserve an explanation from Senator Conrad.”
Ken Karls, State Chairman North Dakota Republican Party.
Grand Forks Herald
OUR OPINION : A budget ‘big lie' or core truth?
- 06/06/2007
Our view:: The evidence leans against Sen. Kent Conrad's contention that the Congress' new budget doesn't raise taxes.
The New York Times says Congress' new budget lets some of President Bush's tax cuts expire. The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times say the same thing. But Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., insists that's not the case.
Who's right?
Conrad is the go-to guy on budget matters in the Senate. On this issue, however, the newspapers seem “more right” than he is. Rich Karlgaard, the North Dakotan who is publisher of Forbes magazine, actually wrote in his Web log that “Conrad is lying about the biggest-ever tax increase that is sure to come if the Dems sweep in 2008.” That's too strong, but Conrad at the very least either should explain his position more clearly or acknowledge that the other observers have a point.
Here's the issue. “Congress gave final approval on Thursday to a $2.9 trillion budget resolution for the 2008 fiscal year . . .,” The New York Times reported May 18.
“The plan assumes the expiration, at the end of 2010, of many of President Bush's tax cuts that have benefited mostly upper-bracket taxpayers, but it would extend popular middle-class tax breaks by two years.”
Conrad responded in a letter, saying that letting the tax breaks expire “is not our assumption. . . . (The budget) allows for new tax relief and the extension of other expiring provisions, as long as they are paid for.” But conservative columnist Bob Novak calls this “the big lie” because the bottom line is that the budget does let some tax cuts expire, and “that means higher taxes if Congress does nothing.”
Note Conrad's phrasing: The budget allows for the tax cuts' extension “as long as they are paid for.” If they're not - if Congress fails to take additional action to drum up the needed revenue - then, presumably, the tax cuts will expire, just as Novak, the Times and the others say.
Conrad's “as long as” qualifier in front of his “paid for” phrase suggests the tax cut are not currently paid for in the new budget.
Is there a flaw in this argument? If there is, then Conrad has every right to claim the new budget doesn't hike taxes. But if there is no flaw, then the critics are right to say the budget likely will let some taxes rise. The senator should clarify matters, and not just with the Herald.
- Tom Dennis for the Herald
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