If you raise taxes, cap spending

Jared Bernstein is right to worry about the growth in the federal debt that has occurred since 2008.

He believes progressive Democrats’ proposals for large rate increases on higher-income taxpayers are the way to cut the debt. Then he admits this is needed to fund “spending preferences.”

In other words, the tax increases wouldn’t go primarily to reduce the growth of debt. The progressive Dems’ proposals would take the top rate to 70 percent, far beyond the top rate of 39.5 percent under the Obama administration, in which Bernstein served.

It just shows how far to the left the Democratic Party has gone. If Bernstein really wants to control the debt, he should review the Simpson-Bowles Commission report of 2010. Not perfect but it would have capped growth in government spending and raised taxes in realistic ways.