Rep. Tom Reynolds, the campaign manager in charge of keeping the Republican majority in the House, gave his approval to a bid by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Bill Thomas to force a tax bill through the September session of Congress.
Reynolds’s opinion is given the highest weight, even more than Speaker Dennis Hastert’s, in the current House Republican leadership meetings. These sessions have concentrated on what might help elect Republicans in November. Reynolds previously had been skeptical about the political value of a pre-election tax measure.
Thomas, in his typical style, has kept quiet on the details of what would be his final tax bill as he ends his congressional career. Not as usual, Thomas has been in contact with the Senate, indicating he means business.
Despite not knowing the details, I think a tax cut would be good both politically for Republicans and for the health of this nation in general.
As far as the nation goes, I think we're still far enough out on the Laffer curve that a cut in tax rates would still result in increased federal tax receipts. Despite protestations from the left, Bush's tax cuts resulted in increased federal tax receipts over the last few years, even to the point where that growth in tax receipts has outpaced the government's spending growth. I don't see any reason to believe why another cut wouldn't have similar results.
And this would play wonderfully for Republicans in the political arena. I'd just love watching Democrats have to explain to the American people why they shouldn't get another tax cut, especially with all the misery the Democrats have been spreading about Americans having to pay too much for gas. After all, why shouldn't Americans get to keep more of their own money?
Of course, Democrats will probably cry about "tax cuts for the rich," but the evidence for the sound economic progress this country has made since the President's tax cuts at the beginning of his administration is just too much to ignore.