Bad though the long-term U.S. budget picture currently is, the looming danger of a default or hyperinflation will not always be with us. At some point, either the danger will recede or the bad things will happen. The longitudinal dimension, involving budget policy across categories rather than across time, may then regain preeminence. With or without a fiscal gap, “tax” and “spending” issues are always with us.

Part Three examines three of the principal such debates in which fiscal language issues have been important. The first involves Social Security and related entitlements. Second, I discuss tax expenditures, a term that has provoked frequent controversy centered on the meaning of “taxes” and “spending.” Finally, I examine how the tax/spending distinction has shaped, and perhaps dramatically worsened, social safety net programs that provide aid to the poor.