At a town hall last Wednesday attended by ThinkProgress, Rep. Dan Lungren (R-CA) was asked why he supports the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy since America has lost millions of jobs since its passage. When Lungren deflected, saying that everyone benefits from the Bush tax cuts and that Obama supported extending them, several people began jeering him. Lungren, who at one point threatened to leave the Carmichael town hall, said he doesn’t know of any economists who support raising taxes during a recession. Ironically, that same day the National Association for Business Economics released a study showing nearly three quarters of business economists stating they support raising revenues through taxes:
LUNGREN: Obama extended the tax cuts for several more years […]
CONSTITUENT: You use the deficit ceiling to blackmail! That’s what you did. […]
LUNGREN: I know of no economists who suggest we ought to raise taxes in the midst of a down turn in the economy.
Watch it: