Remember when liberals relentlessly attacked President George W. Bush for going to war in Iraq without “paying for it,” by which they meant raising taxes?
As Senator Hillary Clinton said in 2008, “I think [the Iraq war] is the first time we’ve ever been taken to war and had a president who wouldn’t pay for it.”
It was a rallying cry of the left. Liberals claimed that the war in Iraq, along with what are known as the “Bush tax cuts,” created a huge federal budget deficit. As the 2006 election approached, Democrats promised that they would bring back fiscal responsibility—what then-Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi called the “pay-as-you-go” approach. Well, they took control of the House and Senate based in part on that “pay-go” promise—and the federal deficit has doubled since they took control in 2007.
Now that President Obama has taken the U.S. to war with the Islamic State (ISIS)—even though he refuses to call it a “war”—will he propose a tax increase to pay for it?
Even if Obama doesn’t put “boots on the ground,” aircraft carriers, air strikes, bombs, cruise missiles, intelligence, financial aid and military support are expensive. The country is spending an estimated $10 million a day—a total of about $1 billion so far.
And Hillary shouldn’t get a pass either. As a presidential candidate in 2008, she was eager to attack Bush for not paying for the Iraqi war. As a potential presidential candidate for 2016, will she be just as quick to criticize Obama?
As much as we dislike new taxes, as a policy matter a “war tax” imposed only for the purpose of paying for an expensive, extended military engagement isn’t unreasonable, since a war imposes new, unbudgeted costs on the federal government. And the prospect of imposing a tax increase might make the politicians a little less willing to take that step unless it was absolutely necessary.
On the other hand, Obama and the Democrats haven’t been shy about wanting to raise taxes, especially on the rich. And they might think paying for a war would give them the cover they need to do so. But at the very least the public and the media should be demanding that Obama reveal how he plans to pay for the war on ISIS.
October 7, 2014