But if anything, it's too small. Under this approach, the Bush tax cut would be repealed and taxes increased automatically if politicians spend too much money and projected surpluses don't materialize. This may sound prudent, but any kind of trigger or other form of automatic tax increase would be a huge mistake. Triggers would undermine the economic rationale for cutting tax rates in the first place.
Lower rates encourage people to engage in productive economic behavior.
Making tax cuts contingent on future political decisions will discourage the kind of private-sector working and investing we need to get our economy moving again. Conditional tax cuts create a self-fulfilling prophecy. Lawmakers who oppose tax relief insist on a trigger because they're worried the economy will perform below expectations and that this will mean less debt reduction. Those who favor bigger government effectively would be able to hold tax relief hostage. A trigger would encourage federal lawmakers who favor big government to manipulate the budget process.