Reduce Taxes, Size of Government, and National Debt

By Wayne Dunlap

The size of government (federal, state, and local) has risen tremendously. We can start reducing taxes and the size of government without increasing the national debt by applying well practiced principles to government with the following four point plan.

The size of government (federal, state, and local) has risen tremendously -- up 76% in the last decade alone to an astonishing $5.1 trillion! To pay for this, the average working American family in the 50th District loses almost half of their income to taxes. When you hear politicians of both the major parties calling for more government programs, they are proposing to make this worse.

Tax reduction is one of Wayne Dunlap's top priorities. The economy suffers when government takes money from your paycheck that you would spend or invest for you and your family's future. Who knows what is best for you and your family + you or government bureaucrats 3,000 miles away in Washington? Also, money spent in the private sector creates more jobs and prosperity.

What would you do with that extra money that you earned? Invest more for your retirement? Put your child in a better school? Buy better quality health care insurance? Start a new business? In an America with less government and taxes, the choice would be up to you.

Everyone seems to agree that government waste and pork barrel spending is rampant and it should be cut but our political process leads to too many compromises and reciprocal favors. The Libertarian Party will eliminate unnecessary government and lower your taxes -- neither Republicans (borrow and spend) nor Democrats (tax and spend) can bring it under control.

It is imperative that we cease excessive government spending and pare down the national debt (now over nine trillion dollars). If we don't, we will place a massage burden on our children and grandchildren and weaken our economy because of higher interest rates. We should expect our representatives in Washington to act with the national checkbook as we must do with our family checkbooks.

We can start reducing taxes and the size of government without increasing the national debt by applying well practiced principles to government with the following four point plan...

1) Initiate a pay-as-to-go policy. When a new government program is being proposed, funding to pay for the costs must be identified. Adding more government programs without a source of funding increases our national debt that will burden our children and the success of our economy. Eliminating unnecessary and lower priority spending will be the target to fund any new program.

2) Employ top business consultants to evaluate government programs. Because of competition, businesses in America constantly need to evaluate staffing and other expenses to provide the best services at the most efficient cost. Practical lessons learned from business should be applied to government.

3) Adopt zero-based funding budgeting. Instead of automatically increasing funding of existing programs year after year, every government program needs to justify its existence. Based on needs, not political favors, evaluation reports from independent business consultants should be used to determine the necessary funding level.

4) Eliminate redundant and outdated government programs and end the practice of earmark appropriations.

It is time to repeal any government tax or excessive regulation that cuts the bottom rungs of the economic ladder and makes it more difficult for people to find jobs and start businesses.

By reducing unnecessary government spending and excess regulation, we can lower taxes and reduce the national debt without sacrificing vital government services.