Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., three picks to serve on the joint Congressional deficit-reduction panel have all advocated massive tax hikes this year, with two of the appointees having voted for the radical budget plan put together by House liberals.
The so-called "People's Budget," proposed by the Congressional Progressive Caucus as an alternative to Rep. Paul Ryan's plan, was so liberal that it only received 77 votes in the House (with 108 Democrats voting "no.") But Reps. James Clyburn, D-S.C., and Xavier Becerra, D-Calif., whom Pelosi named to the committee today, were among the few "yes" votes.
According to Ryan's office, it would hike taxes by $16 trillion relative to his House-passed plan.
The People's Budget, which I wrote about in April, would go beyond letting all of the Bush tax cuts expire -- even for lower income levels. It would also hike payroll taxes, estate taxes, as well as a impose a "financial crisis responsibility fee and a financial speculation tax." Its so-called entitlement reform would include adding a government-run plan, or public option, to the Obamacare insurance exchanges. Its savings come by slashing defense spending -- including troop levels, procurement, and research and development. At the same time, it called for $1.7 trillion in new stimuls spending.
The proposal itself claimed $3.9 trillion in tax increases over the next decade. By 2021, for instance, it aims to put revenue as a share of GDP to 22.3 percent -- a historic record. In that year alone, it would mean $542 billion in more taxes than President Obama's own February budget request.
Rep. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., Pelosi's other pick for the panel, voted against the People's Budget. But as ranking member of the House Budget Committee, he released his own plan, which is also heavy on tax increases a light on actual entitlement reform.
Van Hollen's plan called for reducing the deficit by $1.2 trillion relative to Obama's budget, which contrasts with the $6.2 trillion in deficit reduction in the Ryan budget using the same baseline. Hollen includes the same tax hikes as in the Obama budget, as well as deeper defense cuts. The only way the Van Hollen plan touches entitlements is through "program integrity initiatives" -- i.e. vague promises to reduce fraud.
Not that this should come as any surprise, but it's hard to imagine any of Pelosi's picks agreeing to do anything about entitlements, or to agree to any committee proposal that would not involve raising taxes.
