In Washington, what passes for bold is revenue-neutral tax reform. In other words, half of the country will pay more in taxes and half of the country will pay less. The reward is supposed to be a simpler tax code and slightly lower rates.
I’ve often said that if revenue-neutral tax reform is all we’re for then I might as well just go home. No one, I mean no one, is ever going to knock on a door for the candidate that runs on the theme of revenue-neutral tax reform.
How did a zero tax cut become the Republican dogma? Is that really all we’re for?
Conservatives need to be more boldly for what we are supposedly for — lower taxes and smaller government. Real conservatives not only believe in a balanced budget, but we seek to balance a much smaller budget.
I believe that the only way to rein in big government is to starve the beast. I’d eliminate the more than 70,000 pages of the tax code, replace it with one page, and start over. I’d set a single rate of 14.5 percent for businesses and individuals. I’d also eliminate the payroll tax, a move that would raise after-tax income by at least 15 percent over ten years.
Fake conservatives like Donald Trump want to raise taxes. Trump maintains that Democrats run the economy better. So, if tea-party conservatives succumb to his nonsense, expect higher taxes and Clinton-style big government to be the result.
One of the fundamental aims of the Constitution was to limit the powers of the federal government. Our Founders would be horrified to learn that the federal government has worked its way into every nook and cranny of our lives.
Shifting the tax burden around, as many Republicans propose, or simply raising taxes, as Trump proposes, is not the answer. If we want the economy to grow again, if we want America to be great again, our government must become significantly smaller.
I have done what no other presidential candidate has done. I have written out in detail a budget that balances in under five years and includes the largest tax cut in our history. Analysts have said that the fair and flat tax I propose would be the most pro-growth tax cut in our history.
I want to see an America where companies are beating down our door to bring jobs back home. I want to see an America where our business taxes are the lowest in the world, not the highest. I want to see an America where regulations wither away and we can compete again worldwide.
Lower taxes and smaller government will not come if we nominate someone like Trump, who explicitly calls for increasing taxes, or go with Jeb Bush, who calls for big-government programs like Common Core.
Limited, constitutional government will occur only when we finally nominate a candidate who is unafraid to take on the Leviathan state. Big government will not be checked by fake conservatives.
So, Republicans, before you go to the polls, please check to see whether your choice for president has really voted, and expressed a heartfelt desire, to make government smaller and more constitutional.