FOX News "Your World" - Transcript

Interview

FOX News "Your World" - Transcript

MR. ASMAN: A new plan to rescue the economy -- no bailouts, no stimulus and no income tax. My next guest announcing a plan to ditch the federal income tax for the whole year. Louie Gohmert is a Republican congressman from Texas, and he joins us now.

Congressman, thank you very much for coming in. Appreciate it.

REP. GOHMERT: Sure, David. Thanks for having me.

MR. ASMAN: I love this idea. I have to be quite honest. I'm supposed to be neutral but, you know, I'm already paying 50 percent of my income in taxes. And you know, I make enough money, I'm okay. But the folks for whom, you know, an extra $10 saved as a result of an income-tax rate cut, that could really mean a big difference in their lifestyle. So if you have no income tax for a year, why not?

REP. GOHMERT: Well, your other guests were just talking about the trillions of dollars that have been committed for this bailout.

MR. ASMAN: We should be specific. And again, Congressman, somebody has estimated it may be as much as $7 trillion that has either been spent or committed by the Fed and the Treasury.

REP. GOHMERT: That's correct. That's my understanding. And you look at the numbers. We're told that 1.2 trillion (dollars) is what was --

(Audio difficulties.)

MR. ASMAN: Oh, dear, there goes his connection. We'll try to get that connection back up again. Congressman Louie Gohmert suggesting that we should take a sabbatical for a year from income tax. Let's hope he's right.

(Program continues.)

MR. ASMAN: And we have reestablished contact with Congressman Louise Gohmert who wants to stop your taxes being paid for at least one year.

Congressman, I'm so glad we were able to reestablish contact because this is a very important subject. The bottom line is we collect less than $2 trillion a year from taxpayers in revenue, and yet we are spending $7 trillion for all these bailouts. So why not give the taxpayer a break? That's your idea, right?

REP. GOHMERT: That's exactly my point, David. You know, we've got 1.2 (trillion dollars) in individual tax payments coming in -- 1.2 trillion (dollars). That is 6.5 times less than we're told that the Fed and Paulson are committing. We ought to have billions for taxpayers and not another cent for executive cronyism. Instead of deciding who's going to get big bonuses, more retreats, you want to shore up mortgages, have Christmas presents bought, have stocks bought.

I hear a lot of people want to buy stock, they don't have the money. Let them have their own income tax money back. They'll shore up the stock market. They will be able to catch up on their mortgages. And we'll be able to be all right. It's a very basic principle.

MR. ASMAN: Well, and you know, Congressman, I gotta tell you, some people would say, oh, that's a crazy idea, it will never get done. Think a year ago, think if a year ago somebody had said the U.S. government was going to spend $7 trillion to shore up the financial services industry in this country and the rest of the world. They would have said you're nuts! So your idea may sound a little wacky now, but maybe a year from now it won't. How do you build a coalition?

REP. GOHMERT: Well, we're currently building a coalition. And if you look, people are agreeing, maybe we shouldn't let Paulson throw another $350 billion out at other causes or whoever he wants. Just 350 billion (dollars) in January and February, we could tell everybody keep your income tax payments, keep your FICA payments. If you make gross $6,000 a month, it's an extra $2,000-plus for each month, for two months and we're still under 350 billion (dollars). It goes to the people that need it, who will really get this economy excited.

People who are listening, if you think about, get your head around all that much extra money every month coming in, you can get on your feet, we can get this economy going in a hurry. And forget the billions that are going for cronyism.

MR. ASMAN: Well, Congressman, please stay in touch with us. Let us know how your plan goes and whether you build a coalition.

REP. GOHMERT: We're going to keep pushing. Thank you.

MR. ASMAN: All right. Congressman Louie Gohmert from Texas, thank you very much for coming in.

REP. GOHMERT: Thanks.

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