Kyl andthe Budget Deficit

In an op-ed published in the Arizona Republic, Senator Kyl gave us his ideas about the budget deficit, repeating the same Republican chant, "It's not a revenue problem, it's a spending problem." Oh, really? Analysis of the deficit shows that Kyl is wrong. The largest share of the deficit (28%) is the revenue lost in the economic downturn. The next largest share of the deficit is attributed to the tax cuts of 2001 and 2003 (13%) with an additional 8% revenue drop caused by other tax cuts. Just those three items add up to 49% of the current deficit. Revenue! Kyl, who was appointed to the Joint Select Congressional Committee on Deficit Reduction, cannot help solve our budget problems unless he is willing to look at it objectively, and accept that it is not a one-sided issue.