Issue Position: Taxes

Issue Position

As a fiscal conservative, Billy believes that the current tax code stands in the way of economic growth. Our government takes too much, penalizes success, and has created a tax code that is too complex and too long, at nearly 17,000 pages, for the average person to manage. Billy will always support tax relief and will vigorously fight congressional liberals when they seek to increase taxes. Billy is open to either a flat tax or a fair tax as a way to fix our tax system. If elected, Billy will work to streamline the tax system and make sure hard-working Missourians are able to keep more of what they earn.

During the ongoing debate about the budget many have suggested, including the President, that tax increases need to be a part of any eventual solution to our deficit problem. I firmly reject this notion.

Our nation's deficits are not because we are taxed too little, but because Washington spend too much. I disagree that the Bush tax cuts, or any tax cuts, are responsible for deficits because this assumes it is the government's money and they allow us to keep some of it. Wealth belongs to those who work for it and the American people have agreed to give some of it to the government for critical priorities, not pork barrel projects.

I am a proud cosponsor of a balanced budget amendment to the U.S. Constitution that would limit the ability of the government to spend more than it takes in or to tax the American public beyond a fixed percentage of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This amendment would force responsible spending practices by Congress and help us pay down the national debt. If we don't act now, we will suffer permanent economic harm from our excessive tax and spending burdens.

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