There is another option. The stuff the taxes were paying for could be stripped from the budget.

Rather than fix the core financial problems at the time, a tax cut was used to punt unpopular measures into the next administration.

Perhaps this time they should think about a more permanent fix. As unsustainable as the tax cuts may have been, monotonically increasing taxes are also unsustainable.

The purpose of taxes is not to tweak the economy. It's just that taxes, and government spending overall, is such an enormous proportion of the economy that it's possible for them to have such an effect. I submit that it would be better to eliminate the use of the economy as a partisan lever by allowing we the people to decide how our money should be used.

EDIT: put in the word "been" I'd missed in 3rd para.