Issue Position: Taxes and Spending

Issue Position

Summary

Congressman Lamborn has long been known as a true fiscal conservative. His best known state legislative achievement was being the Senate sponsor of the biggest tax cut in Colorado history, which saved Colorado taxpayers more than $1 billion in the first five years. His strong fiscal leadership continues into his second year in Congress. He has never supported a tax increase at either the state or the federal level, and has formally pledged for 13 years running never to do so.

Congressman Lamborn supports making the Bush tax cuts permanent, repealing the death tax, getting rid of the Alternative Minimum Tax, reforming Social Security by allowing personal accounts, across the board spending cuts in discretionary spending, balancing the budget, instituting a flat tax, shifting to a sales tax if the income tax can be constitutionally repealed, and numerous other tax and spending reforms.

Lamborn's leadership during his 12 years in the State Legislature included successfully introducing a bill in his first term which eliminated one-half of all business personal property tax accounts from the rolls, and being given by CUT, the Colorado Union of Taxpayers, the highest tax ranking in the Senate for five of the seven years before he ran for Congress.

Because of its strong fiscal positions, Congressman Lamborn is very involved in the Republican Study Committee. One of the initiatives the committee has promoted, and which Lamborn supports, is a National Taxpayer Bill of Rights, which is based on four principles: taxpayers have a right to a government which does not grow faster than family income, taxpayers have a right to receive back every dollar they have paid for retirement, taxpayers have a right to a balanced budget without taxes being raised, and taxpayers have a right to a simple and understandable tax code.

To force accountability, Lamborn is introducing legislation to repeal current law which allows the federal debt to be raised without a public vote. Getting control of the spiraling federal deficit is essential to our country having a prosperous and bright future.

Legislative Action in Congress:

* H.R. 2734 - Co-sponsored the Tax Increase Prevention Act of 2007

* H.R. 2084 - Co-sponsored the Family Budget Protection Act of 2007 to provide spending caps on the growth of entitlements and mandatory budget outlays, including giving the President a line-item veto to cut out wasteful spending

* H.R. 2380 - Co-sponsored the Death Tax Repeal Permanency Act of 2007

* H.R. 1366 - Co-sponsored the Individual AMT Repeal Act of 2007 to eliminate the Alternative Minimum Tax on individual taxpayers for taxable years beginning after 2006

Legislative Action in State Legislature:

* H.B. 99 -1207 - Successfully sponsored and passed the largest tax cut in Colorado history which has saved the people of Colorado over one billion dollars in just the first five years

* H.B. 96 -1267 - Successfully sponsored and passed a bill that exempted small businesses from paying any personal property taxes, or even filing a return, if the property owned by that business is worth $2,500 or less

* S.B. 06 -156 - Sponsored a bill that would have prevented local officials from disguising tax increases as fee increases, thus avoiding a vote of the people

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