Tax Cuts, Not Tax Hikes, Ought to be Priority During Recession

The Heritage Foundation has long argued that tax cuts, not tax hikes, are the best policy, especially when the economy is weak. Turns out Barack Obama agrees with us. Watch the video yourself, but here is a rough transcript of Obama’s exchange with George Stephanopoulos from This Week:

STEPHANOPOULOS: Even if we are in a recession next January when you come into office, you’ll still go through with your tax increases?

OBAMA: No, no, no, no, no. What I’ve said George is even if we are still in recession I am still going to go through with my tax cuts. That’s my priority.

Both before and after this exchange, Obama does make the case that raising taxes can help economic growth, sometimes, by lowering the deficit. Heritage scholar J.D. Foster reviews the economic literature and makes the opposite case here.