Tax Cuts Have Hawks Pushing for More Military Spending

Some Warn Tax Cut Might Mean Less Money Left for Wars

The finalization of the new US tax cut has hawks shifting focus toa new press for yet more military spending, while at the same time disagreeing about whether the cuts are an obstacle to such spending, or could facilitate even more.

Obama-era officials, in particular, were very outspoken in criticizing the tax cuts for their impact on the national debt, suggesting they would inevitably lead to cuts in “national security” spending as a result.

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK), however, saw the tax cuts doing the exact opposite, predicting it would lead to an economic boom, and increased revenue for the government, which could be funneled toward the military.

Having already pushed through a massive military spending increase for next year, the expectation is more large increases to come every year going forward. President Trump has suggested that permanently ending sequestration would be a good move toward that end, though in practice sequestration never really happened, leaving open the question of what formally eliminating it even will mean.

Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.