Written by John Lounsbury
Last Tuesday night tax reform debate on CNN between Senator Bernie Sanders and Ted Cruz was discussed on the Real News Network by Stephanie Kelton, economics professor at State University of New York at Stonybrook and former chief economist for for the Senate Budget Committee Democratic staff. She took a closer look at some of the issues and implications from the debate regarding taxes, government deficits, and the federal debt, which is currently at $20 trillion.
Editor’s note: Stephanie Kelton has contributed to GEI.
Prof. Kelton specifically takes issue with an argument presented during the debate when Sen. Cruz was asked:
Senator Cruz, recent projections estimate that the tax framework currently under consideration would add $2.4 trillion to the debt over the next 10 years. What steps will you take to ensure that the tax reform doesn’t add to the debt burden my generation is already facing?
The senator replied:
Well, thank you for that question. It’s a very good question. Listen, when it comes to the deficit and debt, it is immoral, the debt we have. When Barack Obama was elected, the national debt was 10 trillion. Today it’s 20 trillion. One president doubled what 43 presidents had built before. We’ve gotta turn it around. That’s a big part of why I ran for Senate.
