美国国家公共电台 NPR GOP Tax Cuts Expected To Push Up Nation's Debt

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

One thing the House and Senate tax proposals have in common is that over the next 10 years, they are both likely to add $1.5 trillion to the national debt. The Congressional Budget Office has confirmed the House version would do that. NPR's John Ydstie reports that pushing up the debt is a big concern for many economists² and for some lawmakers.

JOHN YDSTIE, BYLINE³: When Republicans first began assembling their tax overhaul⁴ proposals, their aim was to make sure tax cuts did not lead to increased deficits⁵ and add to the already troubling $20 trillion federal debt. That's long been the goal of Republican deficit⁶ hawks⁷. But that goal is now just a memory. Neither the House nor the Senate proposal to cut taxes by $1.5 trillion is accompanied by a plan to offset⁹ that lost revenue with spending reductions or new revenues. Yesterday, longtime deficit hawk⁸ Republican Jeff Flake¹⁰ of Arizona said in a statement that the current tax reform proposals will grow the already staggering national debt. And he said that could threaten the economy. Economist¹ Len Burman agrees.

LEN BURMAN: This is a ridiculous time to be thinking of additional borrowing.

YDSTIE: Burman, who is co-founder of the Tax Policy Center, says the deficit is already expected to balloon as baby boomers retire and the cost of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid rise sharply.

BURMAN: At some point, we accumulate so much debt that we could do serious harm to our economy.

YDSTIE: Burman says the huge deficits could drive up interest rates and slow growth. And in an extreme case, the U.S. could fail to pay its debts and trigger a global financial crisis. Lawmakers flirt¹¹ with that every time they fight over raising the debt limit. Burman says while the U.S. has avoided a crisis so far, at some point the government will have to limit its borrowing and pay its debts.

BURMAN: The thing that bugs¹² me about deficit financing is we really don't know who's going to bear the burden of the debt.

YDSTIE: But he says we have a good idea who will get the benefit of the tax cuts that produce the additional $1.5 trillion worth of debt. The vast majority will go to businesses and high-income individuals. And in fact, there are some clues about who might bear the burden of restraining deficit spending. It was a big theme in President Trump's 2018 budget proposal.

BURMAN: A lot of social welfare programs that help low-income people would be cut dramatically.

YDSTIE: Former CBO director and adviser¹³ to Republican candidates Douglas Holtz-Eakin is also concerned about the growing debt.

DOUGLAS HOLTZ-EAKIN: So having a tax reform that allows for a trillion and a half of additional deficits over the next 10 years is in and of itself not very attractive.

YDSTIE: But Holtz-Eakin says he believes there are enough positive elements in the tax bills to incentivize business investment that will boost growth and wages. And that's a big benefit for the middle class, he says.

HOLTZ-EAKIN: If the tax reform is done well, they'll get the most out of it because there's nothing more important to the middle class than to have an economy where real wages are actually rising.

YDSTIE: But what about that one and a half trillion dollars in additional debt? Secretary of the Treasury¹⁴ Steve Mnuchin says tax reform will pay for itself by boosting growth and producing more than that amount in added tax revenue. Holtz-Eakin disagrees. He says optimistically, successful tax reform might pay for half of what it costs. Len Burman says even that's too optimistic. He says mainstream¹⁵ economic models suggest the initial growth spurt¹⁶ from tax cuts is later offset by slower growth, so the negative debt effects remain. John Ydstie, NPR News, Washington.

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 overhaul   

v./n.大修，仔细检查

参考例句：

• Master Worker Wang is responsible for the overhaul of this grinder.王师傅主修这台磨床。
• It is generally appreciated that the rail network needs a complete overhaul.众所周知，铁路系统需要大检修。

5 deficits   

n.不足额( deficit的名词复数 )；赤字；亏空；亏损

参考例句：

• The Ministry of Finance consistently overestimated its budget deficits. 财政部一贯高估预算赤字。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Many of the world's farmers are also incurring economic deficits. 世界上许多农民还在遭受经济上的亏损。 来自辞典例句

6 deficit   

n.亏空，亏损；赤字，逆差

参考例句：

• The directors have reported a deficit of 2.5 million dollars.董事们报告赤字为250万美元。
• We have a great deficit this year.我们今年有很大亏损。

7 hawks   

鹰( hawk的名词复数 )； 鹰派人物，主战派人物

参考例句：

• Two hawks were hover ing overhead. 两只鹰在头顶盘旋。
• Both hawks and doves have expanded their conditions for ending the war. 鹰派和鸽派都充分阐明了各自的停战条件。

8 hawk   

n.鹰，骗子；鹰派成员

参考例句：

• The hawk swooped down on the rabbit and killed it.鹰猛地朝兔子扑下来,并把它杀死。
• The hawk snatched the chicken and flew away.老鹰叼了小鸡就飞走了。

9 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

10 flake   

v.使成薄片；雪片般落下；n.薄片

参考例句：

• Drain the salmon,discard the skin,crush the bones and flake the salmon with a fork.将鲑鱼沥干，去表皮，粉碎鱼骨并用餐叉子将鱼肉切成小薄片状。
• The paint's beginning to flake.油漆开始剥落了。

11 flirt   

v.调情，挑逗，调戏；n.调情者，卖俏者

参考例句：

• He used to flirt with every girl he met.过去他总是看到一个姑娘便跟她调情。
• He watched the stranger flirt with his girlfriend and got fighting mad.看着那个陌生人和他女朋友调情，他都要抓狂了。

12 bugs   

adj.疯狂的，发疯的n.窃听器( bug的名词复数 )；病菌；虫子；[计算机]（制作软件程序所产生的意料不到的）错误

参考例句：

• All programs have bugs and need endless refinement. 所有的程序都有漏洞，都需要不断改进。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The sacks of rice were swarming with bugs. 一袋袋的米里长满了虫子。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

14 treasury   

n.宝库；国库，金库；文库

参考例句：

• The Treasury was opposed in principle to the proposals.财政部原则上反对这些提案。
• This book is a treasury of useful information.这本书是有价值的信息宝库。

15 mainstream   

n.（思想或行为的）主流；adj.主流的

参考例句：

• Their views lie outside the mainstream of current medical opinion.他们的观点不属于当今医学界观点的主流。
• Polls are still largely reflects the mainstream sentiment.民调还在很大程度上反映了社会主流情绪。

16 spurt   

v.喷出；突然进发；突然兴隆

参考例句：

• He put in a spurt at the beginning of the eighth lap.他进入第八圈时便开始冲刺。
• After a silence, Molly let her anger spurt out.沉默了一会儿，莫莉的怒气便迸发了出来。