According to this report the national deficit is declining despite having a war and housing crisis going on.

The Treasury Department said that the deficit through the first 11 months of this budget year totaled $274.4 billion, down 9.8 percent from the same period a year ago.

Analysts believe the deficit for all of 2007 will actually be even lower because they are forecasting a sizable surplus in the final month, reflecting in part timing issues that caused about $44 billion in Social Security and Medicare payments that normally would have been made in September to be shifted into August.

The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting that when this budget year wraps up on Sept. 30, the deficit will total $158 billion, down by 36.2 percent from last year’s $248.2 billion deficit.

The government’s books have been helped this year by record flows of tax receipts, which have continued even though economic growth has been reduced by a serious slump in housing.

I just fail to understand why anyone thinks tax cuts are bad for the economy. It has been proven more than once that tax cuts actually bring in more revenue than higher taxes.

The reason is simple: when taxes are cut businesses are able to hire more people who in turn pay taxes which raises the tax collections and reduces the deficit.

It seems simple to me, but then I’m not a Congresscritter.