The Washington Times caught some key quotes from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s testimony to the Congress, and it’s not pretty. Says the Times:
“I can’t speak to the overall combination of taxes and spending, other than to say that they should be in balance. But I will go so far as to say that I think that there’s a significant return to investing in young kids,” the Fed chairman told Sen. Bob Casey, Pennsylvania Democrat, in response to a question about whether Congress should vote to extend tax cuts or increase funding for the Head Start program for poor children.
Mr. Bernanke said taxes have an "important" role to play in narrowing the widening income gap between rich and poor through income-transfer programs, and Congress needs to balance that goal against the desirability of tax incentives that spur innovation.
“The tax code has an important role to play in generating more equality,” he said, although "entrepreneurs and the people who take risks — we have to give them incentives to take risks” as well.
Did Alan Greenspan ever call for tax hikes? Somehow I don’t think his successor is going to be as widely loved, if he keeps up this drumbeat for tax hikes.