The Hill News

Though a debate is still raging on this topic, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said Sunday that he predicts Congress will extend tax cuts set to expire at the end of the year.

"What's going to happen is that they're going to get extended. And that's very obvious irrespective of what the rhetoric is, because that's the easiest thing to do politically at this stage," he said.

Greenspan said tax cuts are not the biggest problem when it comes to addressing the deficit; rather, policymakers must think about spending.

"You can't think about the concept of taxes until you ask, what is it that you're funding?" he said. "At the moment, we are essentially borrowing more than a third of what we spend. And this is causing a huge increase in the debt. And it's not going to be easily reversed."

Trimming around the margins will not do the trick, as major cuts are needed, according to Greenspan.

"Look, as far as I'm concerned, what we're going to have to do is to essentially look at not individual piecemeal cuts or taxes. We have to look at whole projects," he said.
 
Greenspan commended Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) for a "very important contribution" he made when he proposed a budget that aggressively addressed entitlements.