Brooks: Until GOP Solves Deficit Problem In Tax Plan, They’re ‘Not Really Dealing Seriously’

On Friday’s “PBS NewsHour,” New York Times columnist David Brooks weighed in on the Republican tax plan by arguing that until Congressional Republicans can fix the increase to the deficit, they aren’t “dealing seriously for this country.”

Brooks stated, “Well, they have a vision for what business taxes should be, which is to lower the rates. And I think there’s a — our corporate rates are super high. And to attract capital to this country, it would help to lower the rates. They have no vision of what individual tax rates should be, or how we should tax individuals. Their bill is sort of a hodgepodge of moving rates the rates around randomly. They have no vision of how to protect families. There could have been a much bigger child tax credit. And then, finally — and this is what everyone — the point everyone is making, but it happens to be true, they have no vision about the fiscal health of this country in the long term.”

He continued, “I personally think there are some pieces of this piece of legislation that I like, capping the mortgage interest deduction. There are some things I don’t like. I don’t think cutting the rates the way that they do is super important. But it’s all dwarfed by the $1.5 trillion hole they’re going to blow in the deficit. And until they can solve that problem, you’re not really dealing seriously for this country.”

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