CNN’s Fareed Zakaria challenged Grover Norquist’s opposition to tax increases during an interview on Sunday, insisting that the anti-tax zealot’s opposition to higher taxes — gospel which the GOP has adopted — could lead to financial collapse and turn the nation into “another Greece.” “In other words, I don’t like high taxes, but the question is if you want lots of government services, you have two options. You can either have high taxes, or you can borrow the money,” Zakaria said.
Norquist responded that Americans don’t want higher taxes and tried to argue that lawmakers can make-up for the lost revenue and still fund social programs and other government priorities with the “economic growth” that results from cutting tax rates. But Zarakai didn’t buy it. Pointing out that growth declined after President George W. Bush’s massive tax cuts and increased after President Bill Clinton raised them, he told Norquist, “This is a wish, not a plan”: