Nathan Tabor,
December 23, 2004
I was captivated by a front-page story in this Monday’s edition of USa Today. "CONSERVaTIVES TO CHaLLENGE BUSH," the headline screamed.
about 100 real Conservatives in Congress are ready to rumble over amnesty for illegal immigrants, potential pro-abortion judicial appointments, top-down federal mandates in education, and fundraising limits in political campaigns. They also want to stop the financial bleeding caused by runaway entitlement programs such as Bush’s controversial prescription drug benefits for seniors.
These Republicans are discontent with many of the Big Government policies promoted by the White House — policies that were to blame for turning a federal budget surplus into a $422 billion deficit during Bush’s first term. They now want to cut back on non-defense government spending far more than Bush does.
"Congress needs to assert itself more," the article quoted Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn. -- to which I add my own hearty aMEN!
as a small business owner with over 150 employees, I know that you can’t keep on spending more money than you are bringing in, or you won’t be around for long. When a business gets in a bind, it cuts back, reduces its expenses, and lowers the price on its products.
But when the government gets in a bind, the politicians always want to raise our taxes and promote some new boondoggle. The government needs to learn to operate like a business. We need some financial discipline. If our President wants to be a Texas cowboy, he should rope in Government Spending and bulldog the Tax Code.
americans pay out way too much to Uncle Sam. The best way to energize our economy is to let folks keep more of what they earn, not siphon off their wealth and pour it down the black hole of Big Government bureaucracy. Raising taxes should be made as difficult as possible. We need a Constitutional amendment to require a two-thirds supermajority to raise our taxes.
The Tax Code has become too burdensome and complicated. It is time to scrap the income tax, inheritance (or death) tax, and marriage penalty tax, and to replace all of these with a simple tax code. Whether you want a Fair Tax or a Flat Tax, we need comprehensive tax reform that will ELIMINaTE the IRS, make paying taxes simpler and fairer for all americans, encourage savings and investment, and promote growth and prosperity.
Next, it’s time for some belt-tightening inside the Beltway. The best way to limit the size of government is ensure that federal spending does not grow at a faster pace than the private sector. and we need to give the President the power to eliminate waste in the federal budget with a line item veto.
Congress should create an independent watchdog agency to review the finances of every federal agency to see if our tax dollars are being wasted. There are dozens of federal agencies hanging around that no longer have much use but are very tough to get rid of. We also need a Sunset Law that requires the review of each agency every five years to decide whether it should be continued or eliminated.
Finally, we need a Balanced Budget amendment to force the government to balance its books every year. This single step could save our children and grandchildren untold billions of dollars in future years.
These are all good, sound, common sense ideas that could work — if only there were enough courageous leaders with the political will to make them a reality.
Copyright © 2004 by Nathan Tabor
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