- The 108th Congress should
enact a peace and prosperity budget that
- keeps the budget balanced for at least the next 10 years,
- reduces the size of government from 20 to 15 percent of gross domestic product over five years,
- eliminates more than 200 unnecessary and unconstitutional programs,
- reduces the federal tax burden substantially and in ways that would promote economic growth,
- includes a tax and expenditure limitation measure that limits federal spending growth to the rate of annual inflation plus population growth,
- reduces the national debt through federal asset sales, and .rebates all tax surpluses to taxpayers at the end of each fiscal year with each taxpayer’s rebate determined as a share of the total federal taxes he or she paid during the year.
A recent poll indicates that a majority of Americans believe they could do a better job of balancing the government budget than the government does. The government does not seem to be bound by the ordinary budgetary considerations that ordinary families have to live by.
Neal Boortz has suggested attaching "The Boortz Addendum" to every appropriation bill offered in Congress. This addendum would read something like this:
Every sponsor or co-sponsor of this legislation hereby affirms his or her belief that the need for the federal government of the United States to spend taxpayer funds on the purposes outlined herein is of greater importance and urgency than any spending needs which the party or parties who actually earned these funds may have; such needs being, but not necessarily limited to, spending for medical care, child care, housing, food, clothing,
transportation, education, insurance, savings and retirement planning, and religious tithes or conscientious charity.
It became common during the Clinton Administration to speak of government spending as an "investment." Congress might also therefore attach the following to each spending bill:
By voting for this legislation I hereby affirm my belief that the information and knowledge possessed by me and 434 other Congressman-"investors" is greater than the collective knowledge and information possessed by a Free Market of 150 million individual investors, pension fund managers, insurance company executives, mutual fund administrators, and brokers, all of whom do not have the luxury of obtaining investment funds by passing
a law, but must earn their investment dollars.
- Arguing over Non-Existent Budget Surpluses, Harry Browne, February 7, 2002
- Top10 Misconceptions about Government, Harry Browne, June 26, 2001
- Truth about the Republican & Democratic Parties, the, Harry Browne, March 23, 1999
Congress must eventually change the fundamental nature of government services from compulsory to fee-for-service. Those who benefit from a service should be required to pay for it, not those who do not benefit. The force of taxation is a morally illegitimate method of funding services.
Government as a monopoly service provider must be eliminated. Competition for the provision of all government services must be permitted.
GOP: Gigantic Outlay Party
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