THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, February 14, 1995 TAG: 9502140489
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A14 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
Does the public make more fiscal sense than the politicians do? Count on it. House Budget Committee Chairman John Kasich, the point man on balancing the budget, has been holding a series of town meetings at which the public has expressed the view that Republican plans don't add up.
The GOP has promised to balance the budget while granting numerous tax breaks, refusing to touch Social Security and increasing defense spending. At three previous meetings in the Midwest, West and South and one last week in New Jersey, citizens have said: Get real.
According to a Washington Post report, the New Jersey gathering demanded less government spending on defense, welfare, the arts, public broadcasting, congressional salaries, you name it.
When asked by Kasich how many wanted tax cuts before the budget was balanced, ``only a few hands went up, and they were booed.'' And some participants said they'd be willing to receive less in Social Security benefits if it would help eliminate the deficit and put the government's fiscal house in order.
After several years of anti-deficit rhetoric and Ross Perot's pie charts, ordinary citizens know how serious the budget deficit is and how painful solving the problem is going to be. They have realized a cure won't come without controlling the growth of entitlements.
For years, politicians have claimed the public wouldn't let them attack the deficit. Now, paradoxically, the public seems ready but politicians may be turning reluctant. By proposing a status quo budget this year, President Clinton abandoned the deficit fight he began honorably enough in 1993. And deficit hawk Kasich seemed oddly reluctant to take yes for an answer in New Jersey.
Though the public meeting gave evidence that voters were willing to postpone tax cutting until deficits are under control, Kasich argued that such a sample isn't scientific and that, once made, a tax cut promise has to be kept.
Rep. Robert Walker, another committee member, went even further. He said tax cuts must be pursued because they will force fiscal discipline. ``It is not as clear to the public as it is to us that the way you bring down deficits is to deny government revenues.''
By this logic, cutting taxes will curtail spending by making less money available. But if that worked, we wouldn't now have a national debt approaching $5 trillion. We do, precisely because government has kept spending even when sufficient revenues weren't available.
Actually, the way to eliminate deficits is to increase congressional responsibility, not decrease federal revenues. Walker and Kasich would do well to heed the voices they are hearing, not manufacture reasons to ignore them.
The people have decided deficits are intolerable. The way to eliminate them is to act with discipline. Spend no more than you take in. Save the reward of tax cuts until the hard work of spending cuts has been accomplished. Admit that entitlements will have to be on the table or balance is impossible. And demand that the numbers add up. by CNB