Andrew Samwick on the GOP Panderfest (“Debate”)

Faux News hosted another “debate” among the GOP Presidential candidates and to no one’s surprise, they all were in favor of shifting more of the tax burden to the kids. To his credit, Andrew Samwick accused Mitt Romney of pandering.

It would seem that what got Andrew’s ire was Romney promising that electing him as President would magically transform the Michigan automotive industry. But why stop there? Why not take on Mike Huckabee when his said:

So that’s the first thing we have to realize, is with our dependency upon foreign oil, if we don’t begin to reverse that and become energy independent, we well could continue this enslavement to foreign oil, and ultimately wreck our economy.

OK – so how would a Republican President reduce our dependency upon foreign oil? Impose tariffs or increase fuel taxes? Oh wait, this is the party that thinks cutting taxes will solve all of our problems. Speaking of Huckabee and tax policy, Steve Landsburg and Greg Mankiw calls the Fair Tax “brilliant”. Maybe they favor consumption taxes over income taxes but I have to wonder if Bruce Bartlett would think the Fair Tax is the best means for accomplishing this goal.