| abstract
| - "Over-taxed" doesn't even begin to describe American society today. Between overt taxation at all levels of government and hidden taxation in various forms such as inflation, deficit spending and uncompensated regulatory takings, Americans spend more than half their income on taxes. We spend more of our time working for our government than a medieval serf of 500 years ago spent working for his lord! The things we get in return for that money can be broken down into two categories: Things that the market, if left free to do so, could provide more cheaply and efficiently; and things we buy only under duress -- things that we wouldn't voluntarily buy even if they were for sale at our local department stores. As President, I'll work to ease your tax burden. If I can get a tax eliminated, I will. If I can't get it eliminated, I'll strive to get it lowered. - I'll veto any proposed increases in existing taxes. Period. - I'll veto any proposed new taxes. Period. - I'll veto any budget passed by Congress that is not in balance based on the previous year's revenues, not on rosy projections of future revenues. Period. Yes, I know that Congress can override presidential vetos, and they very well may do just that. But I promise you -- no tax increase, no new tax, no deficit budget will be imposed on you over my signature. As the American economy grows -- and with the policies of smaller government I advocate, that growth is certain to get faster -- federal revenues will go up without tax increases. As they do, I'll go to Congress each year with a budget proposal that splits those increased revenues right down the middle: Half into across-the-board income tax cuts for the following year, half into reduction of the national debt (which, unless addressed now, is effectively a tax on our children and grandchildren, levied in advance by spendthrift politicians). I'll also be working diligently to cut spending, aside from simple balanced budget concerns. Our government is too big. It does too many things that it shouldn't be doing. As you can see from my other position papers, I want to stop it from doing those things -- and give the money that's being taken from you to do them back to you. My goal is to eliminate the federal income tax. Until I can convince Congress to do that, I favor cutting the income tax in a way that's simple, fair and, as I said, "across the board." My tax cut proposals won't come in the form of loopholes or deductions for special interests or "the rich." They won't come in the form of hokey "better ways" of assessing and collecting taxes, such as the mis-named "Fair Tax." They'll come as real tax cuts in the form of increases to the "personal exemption." Every year, every American will be able to earn more income before the federal government tries to take any tax. Every year, more Americans, earning more money, will fall off the income tax rolls completely, and those who don't will be taxed less. When it comes to eliminating the income tax, many people have told me that that's impossible -- that it would amount to an unthinkable, fundamental reorganization of American society. But America survived without an income tax until 1913. That's more than half of our nation's history! And it wasn't until World War II that the income tax became a major factor in government finance, or that the government began "automatically withholding" taxes from your weekly paycheck. Historically speaking, the income tax as we know it has been a short-term experiment, and in my opinion it's been a failed experiment. I don't see why it should be "unthinkable" to take a step backward from that "fundamental reorganization of American society." Not only do I consider it eminently thinkable, I consider it common sense. And I'll do my best to make it happen.
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