Lyons: Debt due to lack of structure
The current national debt is not an immediate problem, said Michael Lyons, USU political science professor, Tuesday night in the auditorium of the TSC.
According to usdebtclock.org, the national debt is above $14 trillion and a little over $127,000 per taxpayer. The debt problem isn’t urgent but it’s getting worse, Lyons said.
Lyons spoke prior to the documentary screening of I.O.U.S.A which was hosted by the College Democrats and College Republicans
Lyons said there are a lot of misconceptions about the national deficit and debt in America. He said Republicans like to blame Democrats and social spending programs for the debt, but Democrats like to blame George W. Bush and the two wars for the debt.
The real problems and causes of the debt are more a matter of structure, Lyons said.
“We’ve always had deficit spending,” Lyons said. “Our nation was born in debt.”
Lyons said two senators for each state and representatives for congressional districts creates “very perverse spending incentives.”
Tax money goes into a pot, then states get the money with no relation to how much money they contributed to the pot, Lyons said.
“The incentives are to take as much money out of the central pot as you possibly can for your district or state because somebody, somewhere else, is paying most of the bill,” Lyons said.
The other problem deals with two-year election cycles, which don’t exist anywhere else in the industrialized world.
“It puts tremendous pressure on members of congress to take quick action that is momentarily satisfying to members of their districts,” Lyons said. “It puts pressure on congress not to raise taxes.”
Longer congressional terms and less frequent elections might make it easier for members of congress to shift their focus to long term instead of the short, Lyons said.
Lyons quoted former president Jimmy Carter, who said, “Our tax system is a disgrace to the human race.” Lyons said that statement was an understatement.
“Our tax system is a disaster,” Lyons said.
We have a huge deficit right now because of the recession and high unemployment rates which lowers government revenues, he said.
One of the best ways to fix our national deficit and debt problem would be to implement a national sales tax, Lyons said. This would make everything more expensive but it would give people more money to start with.
Lyons said people with honest jobs that honestly pay their taxes are carrying the burden of dishonest people like drug dealers who don’t very much in taxes. Having a national sales tax would solve that problem.
“There is a much better tax system our there, somewhere, than what we have today,” Lyons said.
Terry Camp, chairman of the College Republicans, asked Lyons if there were specific areas where he believes the budget should be cut. Lyons said the only areas that can get less money are national defense, Social Security and Medicare, but the real solution is to fix the tax system.
Lyons said Medicaid is very expensive because health care costs are so expensive.
“There are lots of ways we can get a handle on health care spending in the United States. And even though in real life I’m a Democrat, I would have to say the democratic health care plan did nothing to bring health care costs under control that I can see,” Lyons said.
He thinks replacing the social security tax with a national sales tax would help with the debt problem because value added taxes usually bring in more revenue. He also said he’d get rid of taxes on corporations which would help the economy grow and bring in more revenues.
– blaze.bullock@aggiemail.usu.edu