March 16, 2007

Taking a Stand for the Taxpayer

By Congressman Joe Pitts

Anyone who has worked in national politics knows there is no shortage of special interest groups in Washington, D.C.

These groups represent everyone from trial lawyers to boat manufacturers, but most have one thing in common:  an interest in getting their piece of the budget pie.

Congress hears a lot from these groups as it goes about spending the people’s tax dollars each year, but rarely do lawmakers hear anyone speak up for the taxpayer.  That’s unfortunate, because it’s the taxpayer who is always left paying the bill.

This week, House conservatives launched an effort to change that.  Called the Taxpayer Bill of Rights, this initiative seeks to give the American taxpayer a stronger voice in Congress.

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights has four fundamental principles:

·        Taxpayers have the right to have a federal government that does not grow beyond the taxpayers’ ability to pay for it.  Washington is a town always on the lookout for the next scandal.  But the real scandal in our nation’s capital is runaway federal spending.  Taxpayers deserve to have a government that lives within its means.

·        Taxpayers have the right to receive back each dollar that they entrust to the government for their retirement.  Currently, Social Security takes in more than it pays out in benefits.  But as baby boomers begin retiring in huge numbers, Social Security will soon begin running a deficit.  At the very least, Congress should stop spending Social Security tax dollars on unrelated federal programs.  But ultimately, Congress must undertake serious measures to strengthen and secure Social Security so taxpayers can be sure that they will get back the retirement money that they have entrusted to the government.  

·        Taxpayers have the right to expect the government to balance the budget without having their taxes raised.  Whether it is a water tax, a gas tax, a payroll tax, a utility tax, a cable tax, or a property tax, Americans are taxed from the minute they wake up and have their first cup of coffee to the minute they turn off the lights to go to sleep.  The last thing hardworking Americans need is more taxes to pay.  The answer to balancing the budget is to restrain spending, not raise taxes.

·        Taxpayers have the right to a simple, fair tax code that they can understand.  The current tax code contains roughly seven times as many words as the Bible.  Each year, businesses and individuals spend billions of hours just trying to figure out what they owe, let alone actually paying the bill.  It is time we simplify the tax code and do away with the IRS as we know it.

These are reasonable ideas that would protect the taxpayer and put us on track toward restoring fiscal discipline on Capitol Hill.

The government’s top accountant, Comptroller General David Walker, recently warned that if we do nothing, the baby boomers are on track to becoming the first generation in American history to leave the next generation with a lower standard of living.  This would come in the form of a crippling tax burden on our children and grandchildren needed to pay for the unsustainable growth of government spending.

As a father and grandfather, this is unacceptable to me.  It is time that Members of Congress begin to look beyond the next election and start to think seriously about our nation’s long term fiscal strength.

The Taxpayer Bill of Rights provides a platform for doing just that, and it should be taken seriously in Congress.

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