The Wall Street Journal has an article, "McCain's Tax Blunder," in which George Stephanopoulos, raises a question about Social Security, "You're a longtime supporter of the private accounts, as President Bush called for them." Wishing to further distance himself from President Bush, when he could have drawn an equally useful contrast with Barack Obama, Mr. McCain didn't even own up to his support for private retirement accounts, simply saying, "I am a supporter of sitting down together and putting everything on the table and coming up with an answer."
The wandering candidate also put his chief economic adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, in an uncomfortable spot. Back in June, the McCain campaign went after Mr. Obama's proposal for a Social Security payroll tax increase on income above $250,000. A President McCain, his adviser then said, wouldn't consider a payroll tax increase "under any imaginable circumstances." So much for that.
It is the unchanging position of this blog that now is not the time to even think about raising taxes in general and Social Security taxes in particular. In a period of economic uncertainty, it is wisdom for the government to inspire public confidence by exercising fiscal discipline and to hold the line (or better yet, reduce) existing taxes. Liberals cling to the fallacy that the public has an infinite capacity to be exploited for tax revenues, even more tightly than we conservatives cling to our guns and our religion! Unless the public is continuously reassured that their hard-earned money is being used wisely, the size of the underground economy will increase and tax evasion will become an art form.
UPDATE: One of my correspondents, whose opinion I respect, has rushed to the defense of Sen. McCain. I inserted his e-mail and my response in "Comments."
