House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., on Sunday echoed the party position that hiking tax rates on the wealthiest Americans will not help the nation’s economic woes and instead will add to them.
Appearing on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” McCarthy said President Barack Obama’s excessive spending is the driving down the economy and must be controlled.
“The numbers don’t lie,” McCarthy said. “This is more about a spending problem, not a taxing problem.”
He said most economists agree the best way to get additional government revenues is by closing special tax loopholes
“I think if you close special-interest loopholes, you have a fairer process,” McCarthy said. “It also makes you invest your money not based on what the IRS says but based upon an economy.
He said while there is has been a 10-percent increase in revenues in the first two months of the fiscal year, spending has increased 16 percent.
“We have spent all this time talking about revenue, but as we’ve watched our government continue to spend more,” McCarthy said.
“This is really about spending. I don’t think Republicans or Americans want to raise any taxes just to continue the spending in Washington.”
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