SamuelRSmith on 16 April 2011
While carefully placed tax cuts may or may not eventually pay for themselves, the key word is eventually. The problem is that the finances are so delicate, atm, that "eventually" isn't the solution we need right now.Spending cuts and mild tax hikes on non-elastic taxes (such as a percentage point jump in sales tax) are far more beneficial at this point in time for reining in the deficit.
Once the books are balanced, tax cuts can be played around with more, to see which ones pay for themselves. Though, the idea really shouldn't be about maximising tax revenue, which is essentially what is being suggested here, but should be about reducing the amount of taxes collected, and letting the citizens keep as much of their money as possible.
