Simplify and Reduce Taxes
Personal and Corporate Income Tax Cuts
Americans pay roughly 30% of their income in federal taxes, augmented by state-level taxes that push the individual burden even higher. Meanwhile, corporations pay about 26% of their revenue in federal taxes alongside state corporate taxes- costs that are often passed on to consumers. This high tax burden suffocates our economy by redistributing wealth to the least productive uses in society, away from better investments and growth.
Across-the-board reductions of approximately 15% in federal income taxes and 10% in state income taxes for both individuals and businesses could stimulate economic growth and strengthen U.S. competitiveness in global markets.
Tax Limitation Amendment to the Constitution
Tax increases are often imposed on the American people in order to fund dubious “special interest” projects or to make up for past “spending sprees.”
Requiring a two-thirds recorded vote in both houses of Congress for any tax increase would help limit unchecked taxation and spending.
Cost of Government Awareness Act
The federal government and most states requires employers to withhold taxes from employees’ paychecks, effectively making them tax collectors. This system obscures the true cost of government for many Americans.
Employers should not have to do the government’s job of tax collecting. Replacing federal and state withholding with direct payment would make Americans more aware of the true cost of government.
Death Tax
The “death tax” that is imposed by the federal and state government is insulting to American families and should be abolished.
Americans pay taxes on income, businesses, investments, and property during their lives— and can face additional taxes at death.
Beyond the federal estate tax of up to 40%, over a dozen states impose their own distinct estate or inheritance taxes with much lower asset exemptions, potentially burdening families seeking to keep homes, businesses or farms that have already been taxed.
Eliminate Dividend and Capital Gains Taxes
The Capital Gains Tax imposes punitive taxes on job-creating investments and taxes citizens for “gains” that are largely the result of inflation. The elderly disproportionally rely on dividends as a source of income. The costs of the government’s double taxation on corporate profits are passed on to American consumers either by an increase in prices or a cut in dividends.
Dividend and Capital Gains Taxes suffocate our economy and unfairly burden investors and the elderly. This should be abolished.
Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution
For 46 of the last 50 years, the federal government has spent more money than it has collected in revenue, resulting in a debt burden of more than $39 trillion and unfunded liabilities as high as $88 trillion. Rather than addressing overspending or reducing the debt, tax increases are routinely imposed on Americans on both the federal and state level.
Congress and the state legislature must rein in out-of-control spending through a constitutional amendment requiring a balanced budget, unless a deficit is approved by a three-fifths recorded vote in both houses. This would force the government to live within its means.
Federal And State Spending
Over the last decade, federal spending has increased, on average, 3.6% every year while the rate of inflation during the same time period has only been an average of 2.3%.
Any federal government increases in spending should be limited to the rate of inflation. Likewise, each state legislature should enact a spending freeze that would limit the growth of state government to the rate of population growth.
State Sales Tax Cuts
Americans face a multi-layered tax system that doesn't stop at their paychecks; it follows them to the cash register. On top of standard prices, the overwhelming majority of states leverage baseline sales taxes, which are aggressively stacked with local municipal and county levies. This multi-layered consumption tax can inflate the cost of goods up- costs borne entirely by the consumer. This continuous taxation on commerce suffocates our economy by suppressing consumer demand and redistributing wealth away from productive private growth.
Enacting comprehensive tax reform that lowers the total economic burden on consumers and business would free up private capital for genuine market growth.