Orrin Hatch: “in recent days I have spoken several times on the matter of tax expenditures. I am going to address this subject again…”

“in recent days I have spoken several times on the matter of tax expenditures. I am going to address this subject again today. It is a timely topic. Everyone is talking about our out- of-control deficits and debt. There are divergent opinions on how best to deal with our Nation's increasingly perilous fiscal situation, but there is one thing everyone seems to agree on: Both the deficit and the debt are unsustainable. If we keep going down this fiscal path, the United States will face a crisis similar to that in Greece and sooner rather than later. The numbers could not be clearer. Federal spending as a share of our economy is trending at a pace 15 percent to 20 percent greater than its historical average of 20.6 percent of GDP. If we leave in place this year's level of taxation, including the marginal rate of relief between the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, and patch the alternative minimum tax, or AMT, the Federal tax take will equal or exceed its historic share of the economy. Liberals suggest the deficit and debt can only be resolved with a significant tax increase. This is either deliberately misleading or sadly delusional. They are either selling snake oil to the American people or they refuse to come to grips with reality. Sticking their heads in the sand is not an option. As you can see, here are Federal taxes and spending as a percentage of GDP. The red line happens to be the spending line. And as you can see, we are way up here in the Obama 2012 budget.…”