Fiscal conservatism may also support limited periods of higher taxes in order to lower the public debt. It can include any or all levels of government, federal, state and local. Fiscal conservatism is typically justified in terms of economic '''efficiency''' (it assumes the private sector is more efficient than the public sector), and in moral terms with high spending, budget deficits, and high debt seen as indicators of '''corruption'''. In opposition to corruption fiscal conservatism develops classic themes of [[republicanism]] that emerged in the era of the [[American Revolution]]. Fiscal conservatism rejects the [[Keynesian]] policy of '''deficit spending'''.<ref>Critchlow, "The Political Control of the Economy: Deficit Spending as a Political Belief, 1932-1952," (1981)</ref> | Fiscal conservatism may also support limited periods of higher taxes in order to lower the public debt. It can include any or all levels of government, federal, state and local. Fiscal conservatism is typically justified in terms of economic '''efficiency''' (it assumes the private sector is more efficient than the public sector), and in moral terms with high spending, budget deficits, and high debt seen as indicators of '''corruption'''. In opposition to corruption fiscal conservatism develops classic themes of [[republicanism]] that emerged in the era of the [[American Revolution]]. Fiscal conservatism rejects the [[Keynesian]] policy of '''deficit spending'''.<ref>Critchlow, "The Political Control of the Economy: Deficit Spending as a Political Belief, 1932-1952," (1981)</ref> |