SWGA Politics

Taxes and Spending

The topic has come up several times in the past month or so about taxes and/or spending and what I would do about them, so let me lay out my path here:

This problem is two fold: the taxation system isn’t fair, and because of inordinate amounts of spending, the State needs a great deal of revenue somehow.

To be fiscally prudent while lowering taxes (income), one must first lower spending so that so much money is not needed to begin with.

Therefore, my first priority would be the complete elimination of all entitlement programs, including all tax credits, Homeowner’s Tax Relief Grants, HOPE, and any other entitlement. Obviously, I’m not trying to be politically popular here, because political popularity contests have gotten us into the mess we’re in.

With the end of the entitlement programs, I would then implement a strict Zero-Based Budgeting procedure whereby every single program that the State spends so much as a penny on would have to be justified, and even those which the State Constitution mandates their existence would have to justify their current spending levels, down to the very last penny. In this, I would force each department and program to be innovative in using off-the-shelf technology to reduce costs and increase efficiency. For example, instead of burning 2MB of data onto a 700MB CD, the department could email that data to wherever it needs to go, and have the recipient either store it or, if absolutely necessary, burn it to a CD. Employees would have to justify their salaries and, if necessary, take a pay cut (or possibly even a raise) or find other employment. For some employees, it could be as simple as finding a non-profit funding source – thereby removing the employee from the State’s budget, yet keeping them in that function. Again, I’m not trying to be popular here, just trying to get this State into fiscal shape with the overall goal of making income (taxes) as absolutely minimal as possible.

Once this is done, we put an Amendment in the State Constitution limiting spending growth to population + the rate of inflation – and forcing spending cuts when either population decreases or deflation occurs.

Once entitlement programs are ended, every single department and program has justified its existence down to the penny, and we have Constitutionally capped spending, we can then finally begin looking at taxes themselves.

Note here that I’ve already eliminated all tax breaks and credits as part of ending entitlements, meaning that at this point everyone is paying the full amount of whatever the State deems it needs from them.

Now, I bring everyone to the same level, the so-called ‘Flat Tax’. For some, this will mean tax cuts. For others, this will mean tax increases. But across the board, it will be the same percentage. Note that for this part of the plan, I continue to use existing taxation schemes, including property, income, and all other taxation schemes currently in use.

Once everyone is paying at the same levels, the ‘Flat Tax’, we then begin to look for new taxation schemes. This could be some form of consumption tax – similar to the Fair Tax, but I believe the Fair Tax idea is fundamentally flawed as it currently exists, and therefore I cannot endorse it here, though I do think the general idea of a consumption tax may hold some merit. Once we identify a taxation scheme that is morally and economically justifiable, we eliminate other current taxation schemes. I believe that both property and income taxes are equally onerous, as the first implies you do not own your property and the second implies you do not own your labor. Therefore I hope both can be scrapped under the new taxation scheme, and I am torn on which to choose if forced to choose only one. That said, should one be forced to remain, it should be as absolutely minimal as possible and used strictly as a secondary funding source, with the primary source being the new taxation scheme.

Finally, once all of these changes are made, we must remain vigilant that they are not corrupted. After all, even the income tax started out, clearly, as something that was seen as desirable at the time.

Note here that all of the ideas and commentary above are completely my own and not the opinions of any particular candidate, Party, or even SWGAPolitics.com. Also note that while I have given this a great deal of thought, I could be wrong on particular points and highly encourage a healthy debate.