Why Extend the Bush Tax Cuts?

    I've already posted earlier that people don't actually care about the deficit in any meaningful manner despite what polls may say.  An interesting thing keeps popping up with regards to these tax cuts that proves quite well that no one in Congress cares about the deficit.  Republicans have been claiming that we should extend all of the tax cuts because you should never raise taxes during the middle of a recession and also their belief that lowering taxes increases revenue, something that is demonstrably false.  (The link discusses how revenue actually increases when taxes are higher tangentially because it really talks about how you can lie with charts.  The chart shows that during the Clinton years when he raised taxes, revenue increased for the government.)  They have simultaneously been refusing to extend unemployment benefits because it adds to the deficit.  Interestingly enough, both add to the deficit, tax cuts just do it more so because they are so much greater.

    Why do congressional Republicans and some Democrats want to extend tax cuts?  It has nothing to do with fiscal policy, nothing to do with ideology, it has nothing to do with any kind of concern with the deficit, (because NO ONE CARES ABOUT THE DEFICIT) it has everything to do with the fact that they would be raising their own marginal tax rates if they voted not to extend the Bush tax cuts.  How come no one has made this point?  People vote their interests and this includes congressmen.  There are people who would choose to increase their tax burden, this has to be the case because congressmen and Presidents do work to increase the tax rates at times.  Let's face it though, people who tend to make a lot of money vote Republican because they know that their taxes are likely to decrease.  Guess what?  Most Congressmen are wealthy, so obviously they'll tend to vote to lower their tax burden if presented with the opportunity.  This incoming class of congressmen is wealthier than usual by current standards apparently.  If you were to ask average everyday people to raise their own tax rates voluntarily, I'm curious as to how much success you'd find.  Why should we expect Congressmen to behave any differently?

    

*     I did say earlier that ideology is not important, that's not quite true because ideology does influence how people vote.  I really just meant to say that material interests will tend to outweigh ideological ones.  This explains why conservative elderly people still support socialized healthcare for the elderly.  (Medicare)