and i quote from martin feldstein. cutting tax expenditures is really the best way to reduce government spending. let me repeat that. reducing tax expenditures, or cutting them, is really the best way to reduce government spending. eliminating tax expenditures does not increase marginal tax rates or reduce the reward for saving, investment or risktaking. it would also increase overall economic firnlt sefficiency by removing incentives to distort private spending decisions and eliminating or consolidating the large number of tax based subsidies and greatly simplify tax filing. in short, cutting tax expenditures is not at all like other ways of raising revenue. we also know that we need more revenue. some of my republican colleagues have argued that revenue should not exceed 18% of gdp. the average over the last several decades. but on the five occasions when the budget was in surplus since 1969, revenues have ranged between 19.5% of gdp and 20.6%. and we will likely need a somewhat higher level in the future because the

this is martin feldstein, professor of economics at harvard, chairman of the council of economic advisorsunder president reagan. this is what he said about cutting tax expenditures. cutting tax expenditures is really the best way to reduce government spending. eliminating tax expenditures does not increase marginal tax rates or reduce the reward for saving, investment, or risk taking. it would also increase overall economic efficiency by removing incentives that distort prieftd spending decisions, and eliminating or consolidatingthe large number of overlapping tax-based subsidies would also greatly simplify tax filing. in short, cutting tax expenditures is not at all like other ways of raising revenue. that from one of the most conservative economists in the country. mr. president, our colleagues on the other side say wait a minute, we shouldn't have revenues more than 18% of gross domestic product because that's on average what it's been over the last 30 or 40 years. mr. president, the problem with their analysis is the only times we've balanced the budget, the revenue has not been 18% o

here is how martin feldstein describes the benefit of reducing tax expenditures.cutting tax expenditures is the best way to reduce government spending." let me repeat. "cutting tax expenditures is the best way to reduce government spending." it does not increase marginal tax rates or reduce the reward for a savings and investment are risk-taking. it also removed incentives that distort private spending decisions. cutting tax expenditures is not at all like other ways of raising revenue. we also know we need more revenue. some have argued that revenue should not exceed 18% of gdp. on the five occasions when the budget was in surplus, revenues have ranged between 19.5% a g.d.p. and 20.6%. we will likely need a somewhat higher revenue level in the future because the country faces an unprecedented demographic situation. this includes the tax reform i believe needs to be adopted. the lowest tax rates. it improves america's global competitiveness. in makes the tax bill more progressive. the report included an illustrative tax reform plan that demonstrates how scaling ba