Rep. Cantor Sells More Tax Cut Myths

House Minority Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA) says that "the number one issue right now is the growing, massive federal debt."  He acknowledges that extending the Bush tax cuts will increase the deficit and the debt.  Nevertheless, he wants them extended.

Cantor currently has this handy dandy countdown clock on his site:

Everything in this frame, save for the countdown, is wrong. 

First, Democrats will not be "dropping" anything.  The Bush tax cuts were designed — by Republicans — to expire at the end of 2010.  As the New York Times explains:

The Bush tax cuts, like just about any tax cuts, affect the deficit, because they result in a revenue decrease. When Congress was considering this legislation a decade ago, the Republicans knew they didn't have the 60 votes they needed to get the tax cuts locked in forever. So they opted to push legislation that required only a simple majority: that is, tax cuts that affected the deficit for 10 years.

Second, the $3.8 trillion figure is wrong.  It's closer to $3.1 trillion.  That's still a huge figure to be adding to the deficit, especially since Cantor sees the debt as "the number one issue right now."  As the Pew Economic Policy Group explains, "Making the tax cuts permanent for all taxpayers, regardless of income, would cost $3.1 trillion over the next 10 years and inflate the national debt to 82 percent of GDP. This would be the highest level since 1948, in the aftermath of World War II, and well above the average debt-to-GDP ratio of the last 50 years of 37 percent. The current ratio is about 57 percent."

Third, no one is suggesting that we let all the cuts expire.  Indeed, the budget the White House has put forward specifically calls for extending the cuts for the majority of Americans.

It's understandable that Cantor wants the deficit-busting tax cuts to be extended for his rich friends, but he should at least be honest about the numbers.  I mean, come on!