The Economy: Growing Pressure

More than that of most nations, the history of the U.S. is studded with controversies over taxation, from the Boston Tea Party of 1773 to the rocky advent of the graduated income tax in 1913. Last week taxes were once more a large and bristly national issue—but the controversy this time was only among those who wanted the same thing in differing ways. Across the U.S., pressure and sentiment were growing on every front for a tax cut to spur the sluggish U.S. economy.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and left-leaning Americans for...