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Crapo Joins Fox Business to Talk Taxes

“There’s a difference between a $4 trillion tax increase and $4 trillion in deficit spending.”

Washington, D.C.--U.S. Senator Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), the lead Republican of the Senate Finance Committee, which has jurisdiction over taxation and revenue measures, joined Larry Kudlow on Fox Business to talk about the effort to prevent a $4 trillion tax hike on American taxpayers.

On the cost to extend tax cuts:

“Under our current scoring rules, the failure to stop tax increases from happening is considered a deficit.  This is a $4 trillion tax increase on Americans, two and a half trillion of which will fall on people making less than $400,000, and [opponents] are arguing that not letting taxes go up—which is what the liberals want—is going to create a deficit.  That's a crazy argument. 

“Barack Obama, when he faced this same question—when President Bush’s tax cuts were expiring—did the same thing I'm proposing.  That is to say, if you're just extending current law, we're not raising taxes or lowering taxes.  To say that is a $4 trillion deficit is ridiculous. 

“There is a difference between a tax increase and $4 trillion of spending, and we just have to get that message out to America.”

On Washington scoring protocols:

“Under the spending protocols that we use, extending current spending does not score as a deficit.  But extending current tax policy scores as a deficit.  That's ridiculous.”  

On preventing a $4 trillion tax hike on Americans:

“We're going to have to take the bold steps of saying to the American people that we are not going to let $4 trillion of tax hikes happen and that it’s not going to increase the deficit.  

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