Tax Reform

As a small business owner, I have seen first-hand the detrimental impacts an unstable and complex tax environment has on our nation’s job creators.  The complexities of our current system make it incredibly difficult for families and business to make long-term financial decisions.

I will not vote to increase taxes.  I stand firm in my conviction that you are the best person to determine how to spend your hard-earned money.  If a man or woman pays a 25% federal income tax rate, they are spending one quarter of all their time at the office working for the federal government.  Between federal income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, state taxes, payroll taxes, airline and transportation taxes, cell phone taxes, utility taxes, fuel taxes, alternative minimum taxes, etc., the American people are taxed enough.  It is your money and you should be able to spend it on your family and your priorities. 

American families have to live within a budget and within their means.   So should the federal government.  Yet many government officials want to raise taxes to help pay for more unnecessary programs that may be nice, but that our nation cannot afford.  Studies have shown that most American families adapt to trying fiscal times by tightening their belts and making their lives work by saving more and spending less.  It is beyond comprehension that the federal government would not do the same.

Raising taxes—especially during a recession or an anemic recovery—is not the answer to our debt problems and in most cases makes things worse.  Instead, simplifying the tax code and broadening the tax base, in addition to making real cuts to the federal budget, is the answer to America’s financial problems.  Independent economists estimate that, when coupled with reduced federal spending, comprehensive tax reform could lead to the creation of 1 million additional jobs in the first year alone.  

Furthermore, I reject the idea that people in the top tax brackets should be required to pay even more than they already do under the notion that they are “paying their fair share.”  They are already paying more than their fair share. In fact, Heritage reports that “the top 10 percent of income earners paid 68 percent of all federal income taxes though they earned 45 percent of all income. The bottom 50 percent paid 3 percent of income taxes, but earned 12 percent of income.”

America has lost some of its biggest job-creating companies and individuals to other countries because they feel they are being taken advantage of in America.  If our innovators leave America, our people will be left with a bloated government that has overextended itself with promises and financial obligations, and without those individuals and companies that have contributed so much over the years in taxes to pay for such obligations.

Congress must turn the tide of Washington’s spending trend and stop the bleeding.  If we do not, our children and grandchildren will receive a country that has been made worse than what their forefathers inherited, and they will be forced to pay off the debts that our generations have selfishly incurred. 

Our Founding Fathers set forth in our Constitution the parameters for the federal government.  Today, our government has far exceeded what the Founder’s envisioned.  As your Congressman, I am committed to enacting a fair and balanced tax structure, reining in federal spending, reducing the debt, and creating an environment in which jobs and American prosperity flourish.