Prof. Mark Thoma of Economist's View gets real on disingenuous tax policy. So don't just tell people how much they will benefit from a tax cut with charts and tables showing how this or that household will fare under a particular tax cut proposal, be honest enough to tell people what they have to give up too. For too long conservatives have sold tax cuts as though there is a free lunch - as though the tax cuts pay for themselves - and it's time for those who are intellectually honest to begin fully spelling out the consequences of their tax cut proposals. If you think government is riddled with waste and inefficiency, then point fingers and tally amounts - tell us who's lazy, incompetent, doing unnecessary things - show us there's enough waste to finance your tax cut proposal. If you advocate tax cuts to improve economic efficiency, fine, but the efficiency gains won't be large enough to pay for the tax cut. Tell us what programs will be cut, or if programs can't be cut, who will have to pay more taxes, or how much of the burden will be shifted to future generations. Maybe people will agree that government is too large, maybe not, but let's debate the real issues and quit selling tax cuts based upon misleading claims that serve to hide the true goal of the policies. That'd be nice. But as Dana said, instead of thorough discussion, we'll probably get more of the partisan Punch-and-Judy Show. It might be more productive to urge honest economists, analysts, and journalists who share these aspirations to get involved in the public dialogue, like Prof. Thoma does.