While live-blogging the Republican debate for the NYTimes yesterday, the eminent GMU economist, author of The Choice, and host of EconTalk, stated (Turning to the Experts | 4:26 p.m)
So far, no one has pointed out that in a world of deficit spending, the true tax burden of the United States is better described by the level of spending rather than tax rates. The Bush administration has cut tax rates but because spending is so much larger, the burden of government is LARGER not smaller than it was before.
With apologies to our friends at ATR. I would go further than Roberts to say that this is true at any level of government regardless of whether deficits are allowed, because taxes have to cover spending — as we have seen in North Carolina over the past two economic cycles and are setting up in the current cycle.
