The Morality of Tax Cuts

As I wrote on Friday, the election this year presents a challenge of moral leadership on debt, taxes, and entitlements. This is neither a Republican nor a Democratic position, but a moral argument that claims the center. The point is that we have a moral obligation to keep our debt at manageable levels. And given the sacrifices that now will entail, we have a further moral obligation to spread the sacrifice around, making the wealthy suffer along with the middle classes and the poor.

A similar argument has been made by Pete Peterson, founder of the Blackstone Group and Chairman of the Peterson Foundation. Peterson has been fighting a lonely battle to support the idea that tax cuts for the wealthy are immoral at a time of heavy debt and that we have a moral obligation to leave our children a world without excessive debt. Here is an interview from Mother Jones describing his failed attempt to convince George Bush of this point a few years back. The takeaway:

And I said, "Sir, I didn't say tax cuts were immoral. I said tax cuts for people like us, before you've solved the costs you're going to be passing on to your kids, is in my judgment immoral. But you could just tell by his steely response that tax cuts are part of the [Republican] theology.

-RB