Untruth and Consequences

Recently, the editorial page of the Wall Street Journal was complaining about the reimplementation of paygo by Democrats because it means there can be no more unfunded tax cuts:

Tax As You Go, Editorial, WSJ: Congressional Democrats are dashing out of the gates to establish their fiscal conservative credentials. And as early as today House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will push through so-called "pay-as-you-go" budget rules for Congress. ... "Paygo" ... sounds like a fiscally prudent budget practice... But ... This version of paygo is ... designed ... to make it easier to raise taxes while blocking future tax cuts. ...

It might be useful to remind the editors why these rules were reinstated. Had Republicans not deceived the public about tax cuts paying for themselves, had prominent editorial pages and other media outlets not participated in the deception, and had Republicans not run up the deficit as a consequence of those false promises, there would be no need to reinstate Paygo. If Republicans have a need to blame someone, they ought to blame themselves.

For example, this is an editorial that appeared in the Wall Street Journal last July:

Soaking the Rich Guess who is paying more in taxes now?, Editorial, WSJ, July 2006: Yesterday's political flurry over the falling budget deficit shows that even Washington can't avoid the obvious forever: to wit, the gusher of revenues flowing into the Treasury in the wake of the 2003 tax cuts. ... They've succeeded even beyond Art Laffer's dreams, if that's possible. ... In the 12 quarters ... since the tax cut passed, growth has averaged a remarkable 4%. ... This growth in turn has produced a record flood of tax revenues, just as the most ebullient supply-siders predicted. ...

Remember the folks who said the tax cuts would "blow a hole in the deficit?" ... [T]ax cuts ... are reducing the short-term deficit...

Or, a commentary from Donald Lambro, the chief political correspondent of The Washington Times, the July before that:

Deficit tide ebbing, By Donald Lambro, Commentary, Washington Times, July 2005: The good news this week is the unexpected surge in federal tax revenues that is slashing the federal budget deficit... This is especially welcome news to supply-side tax-cutters who argued all along that lower tax rates spur stronger economic growth, which, in turn, ... increases tax revenues. That is happening now.

It's embarrassing news for President Bush's diehard Democratic critics, who predicted his tax cuts would worsen the budget deficits and drive the government deeper into debt. ... Surely, it has become quite clear they were wrong on all counts.

Surely not. Republicans, with the help of editorials such as these and many, many others, led the public to believe that the tax cuts would be self-financing, or at least largely so. Now that the deception is coming to light, Republicans should quit complaining about having to face the consequences of their false promises.