Business Insider GOP primary debate: on Tax Reform

Bill Weld: I never met a tax cut I didn't like

Bill Weld: First of all, as governor, I never met a tax cut I didn't like. I cut taxes 21 times and I never raised them--so I'm not going to criticize a tax cut, although obviously it could have been more equitable. But this this president is not a fiscal conservative. He's gone along with his trillion dollar deficits every year. I was ranked the most fiscally conservative governor in the United States. And I was governor of Massachusetts after three terms of Michael Dukakis. So that took some doing. But no, we simply can't sit still for this guy who's a disgrace to the office almost every day

Joe Walsh: Focus tax cuts on middle class and payroll tax

Gov. Bill Weld: Oh, I would keep them. I never met a tax cut I didn't like.

Q: But then where do you cut?

Weld: You cut across the board. You have to zero base the budget. You have to measure outcomes instead of inputs. How much money was spent last year--that should be irrelevant. Was it a good program? Increase it. If it wasn't, zero it out. That's how you cut spending, and I did it.

Joe Walsh: It shouldn't have been a tax cut for the wealthy, which is primarily what Trump's tax cut was. It should have been a payroll tax cut that middle class Americans would have felt. But look, the governor is right. Republicans and Democrats don't get this. We have a spending problem and both parties like to spend a lot of money. And you listen to these Democrats--there are a lot of good things they want to do but they never talk about how much these things are going to cost.