Wednesday, August 1,1984 PEANUTS CHARLES M. SCHULZ
The presidential rivals have raised an issue that could decide the election: should the government boost taxes or cut spending to stop the federal deficit from exploding?</br></br>Walter F. Mondale would raise taxes. He wants to reduce the deficit by two-thirds, without giving up social programs so dear to Democrats. This will take more revenue, he admits, with a candor he calls the ÛÏNew Realism."</br></br>President Reagan would rather slash government spending. Collecting more taxes, he argues, simply will encourage bureaucrats to spend more money. Not ufitil he is convinced that no more savings can be squeezed out of the budget will he consider a tax increase, he says.</br></br>There has been an ingrained nonchalance about deficits in Washington. Yet clearly, the public debt cannot go on ballooning without causing economic chaos. Already, economists are having nightmares over the crushing interest payments, which have a dismaying habit of compounding.</br></br>Just the slight increase in interest rates since last January will cost the taxpayers more than $12 billion during the next fiscal year. And this staggering amount will cover only the increase, not the interest that will run another $110 billion or so.