The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly safe pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty
policy. It must be replaced by a passionate pro-growth approach that breaks all ties and calls all close ones in favor of private sector jobs that restore opportunity for all and generate the public revenues to pay our bills.
That means a dramatically simpler tax system of fewer loopholes and lower rates. A pause in the mindless piling on of expensive new regulations that devour dollars that otherwise could be used to hire somebody.
It means maximizing on the new domestic energy technologies that are the best break our economy has gotten in years.
Reform the income tax; raise tax rate if necessary
The fundamentals of a pro-growth tax system are simplicity and low rates. The innumerable special deals in our tax code impose an enormous drag on the economy. Raising tax rates on individuals or businesses may be emotionally satisfying to some people,
but if it delivers less revenue and higher unemployment, then the satisfaction isn't worth it and it won't last long. There is wide concurrence on the essence of a growth-friendly tax code. It involves the elimination of all or almost all current
exclusions and deductions.
Clearly I am an advocate of the lowest taxes consistent with national necessity. The national necessity of our age is to overcome our debt burden. This is no time for theological, think-tank arguments about 18% versus 19%
versus 20% of GDP. We can resume those debates after the enemy is thrown back from our gates. If it takes a slightly higher rate to bring together the majorities necessary to pass radical simplification & a pro-growth federal tax structure, count me in.
Solemn duty to spend wisely when taking from free citizens
There is a game I like to play whenever I visit high school classrooms. I ask if anyone has a dollar bill handy and when a youngster produces one, I thank him, stick it in my pocket. I make the following point:
Please note that Brandon is now a dollar less free than he was a minute ago. If he still had that dollar bill, he could decide what to do with it. Now I get to decide. And that's why we need to be so careful before we take away
Brandon's money, or yours, through the coercive power of taxation. If we really value personal freedom the way we say we do, then we should never take a dollar away from a free citizen without a very good reason.
And then we have a solemn duty to spend it as wisely and effectively as possible. Otherwise, we should never have taken it in the first place.
Raising taxes is the worst thing possible in a recession
Around our nation, states have closed parks, thrown people off Medicaid, & stopped plowing snow. We have done none of those things and don't intend to. Saddest of all, our sister states, at least forty of them, are doing the worst thing possible in times
like these. They are raising taxes, adding to the burden on families, and making their economic climates even less attractive to new jobs. We will do whatever is necessary but we will not make this recession worse by adding one cent to the tax burden.
Source: Indiana 2010 State of the State Address
, Jan 19, 2010
