Kathryn Jean Lopez notes that the Washington Post is putting words into soon-to-be House Speaker John Boehner’s mouth:
GOP leaders concede that point [that minor budget cuts will barely dent our structural budget deficit] and say they are open to broader bipartisan approaches to tackling the nation’s budget problems. Boehner, for instance, has embraced the possibility of higher taxes, suggesting in a speech in Cleveland this summer that lawmakers should look at clearing out the “undergrowth of deductions, credits, and special carve-outs” in the tax code that are little more than “poorly disguised spending programs.”
This is simply untrue. Boehner’s speech is here. There is nothing whatsoever in that speech to suggest that Boehner has embraced higher taxes. Quite the opposite. You can search for the word tax/taxes: you will find no occurrence suggesting they should be higher, and many suggesting they should be lower.
Boehner did make the point that Congress has discovered that it can disguise spending by putting in the tax code. (This is mainly a Democratic trick, but Republicans employ it too.) The public likes tax cuts, so this makes their pork barreling seem more palatable. Boehner is right that we should put an end to the practice. But that has nothing whatsoever to do with raising taxes to deal with our structural deficit.
The Post needs to issue a retraction.
Internet Scofflaw 