Grassley Questions Budget Director on Consequences of High Taxes and Bloated Federal Spending

Grassley Questions Budget Director on Consequences of High Taxes and Bloated Federal Spending

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) questioned the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russ Vought at a Senate Budget Committee hearing today about the negative impact of high taxes and excess federal spending.

Grassley noted the federal government has brought in roughly the same amount of revenue regardless of the marginal tax rate. Grassley also voiced his continued support for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding.

In remarks on Tax Day, Grassley hailed Republicans' Working Families Tax Cuts Act, which stopped the largest tax increase in history and is generating higher tax refunds for working Americans. Almost half of filers have claimed one of the new cuts: no tax on tips and overtime, auto loan interest or the senior deduction. The average tax cut equates to about $250 per month.

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On Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) funding:

First of all, Congress has appropriated money. You don't have the authority to impound it, and I'm interested in the release of Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) money. And the reason I'm interested in it is because we are not getting any answers about why these quarterly allotments aren't given out.

I follow this program in Iowa, and the reason it's kind of personal to me: one of your predecessors 40 years ago, by the name of David Stockman, suggested we do away with the program. And I and Senator Hatfield...kept that program alive, and we've had it. So, I want those quarterly allotments released.

On the consequences of high taxes and bloated federal spending:

My Democrat colleagues believe the only solution to our unsustainable debt and deficits is higher taxes on job creators and on families. However, history proves that high tax rates fail to raise significant revenues. Taxpayers, workers and investors are smarter than we in Congress or bureaucrats are.

We've had a 93% marginal tax rate, then 7% tax rate, then a 50% marginal rate, and 30% and 40% and so on. But, regardless of the rate, we've brought in about the same amount of revenue. And, I have a chart that shows that. And, on the other side of the ledger, federal spending is at levels we've never seen outside of war and recession, and it's still growing.

First question, isn't it true that our fiscal imbalance is primarily a spending problem, not a revenue problem? And then, let me give you the second part of it. How is this administration working to rein in bloated federal spending?

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