Standing up to spending

At least one GOP leader gets the spending thing. John Boehner, the House Minority Leader, had an excellent letter to the editor in Monday's Washington Post arguing the same point I did in an earlier post - that the best way to "pay for" the elimination of the Alternative Minimum Tax isn't through new taxes, it's through spending restraint.

Congress doesn't have a revenue problem. Revenue is at an all-time high after the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which have triggered economic growth that is "paying for" an AMT patch many times over. Rather, Congress has a spending problem, and raising taxes to "pay for" an AMT patch is simply a backdoor way to feed its addiction to pork.

He calls out several irresponsible earmarks that would at least make a dent in paying for the AMT.

I'm so glad to see Boehner singing the song of less spending. He needs to push more of his colleagues in this direction.

HT: Poor and Stupid