Op-Ed Contributor - The Tax Cut We Can Afford - NYTimes.com

Op-Ed Contributor - The Tax Cut We Can Afford - NYTimes.com: "Tax cuts do not pay for themselves. Even when President Ronald Reagan slashed much higher tax rates in half, this argument failed; in the current tax debate, it is unsupportable. By definition, high-income households are where the money is; higher rates would raise substantial revenue for long-term deficit reduction.

Once the recovery is off and running, and stock and housing prices are consistently rising, allowing the Bush tax cuts for high-income households to expire — over, say, a three-year period — would not harm the economy. The overwhelming fear among high earners that their lifestyles will be forever diminished should have faded, and the tax increases would be small enough not to materially alter wealthy people’s decisions about spending, working or investing."