Issue Position: Restoring Prosperity and Creating Jobs
Issue Position
Cutting spending and taxes is crucial to restoring economic prosperity
There is no more important priority than creating jobs for Tennessee families. To do that, to restore prosperity, we have to change the way things are done in Washington. Stimulus bills, bailouts, sweetheart deals for Wall Street and big banks, spending, deficits and debt - this must change.
Our budget deficit doubled in 2008 and again in 2009. We raised the debt ceiling to nearly $2 TRILLION dollars just this year. Our national debt stands at over $12 TRILLION, but that's not the whole story. The unfunded debt is closer to $70 TRILLION. Our children, our grandchildren and their children will be paying the price for our failures.
By 2052, entitlements alone will require more than 100% of our tax revenue.
So what can we do? First, when you're in a hole, stop digging. We're in a hole, and we need to stop spending. We should use repaid TARP funds and unspent stimulus funds to pay down the national debt.
Second, tax cuts are a better jobs bill than more government spending. We need to cut tax rates, make permanent the Republican tax cuts of 2001 and 2003, work toward abolishing the capital gains tax and business tax. Even China has a cap gains tax of zero. These tax cuts will ignite our economy and create new jobs for our people without saddling us with any more debt.
Third, we need earmark reform. We need transparency. We need to change the culture in Washington. When a Tennessee family has to make tough decisions, they sit down and prioritize spending. Government just spends and borrows and taxes. We're going to have to make some tough decisions, cut spending and get our country back on the right track.
There are plenty of specific examples of wasteful government spending that we can cut, but mainly, it will take the discipline and will to do the right thing.
The bottom line: if we want to get our economy growing again and create jobs, we need to follow President Reagan's example and cut taxes dramatically and across the board. We should work toward a flatter, fairer tax system that does not penalize work, wealth creation and savings.
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