The federal government has become a giant monster, devouring our substance, yet too often failing to deliver on the promises politicians make. Americans will pay more than $1.3 trillion in federal taxes in the coming year, but President Clinton and the bipartisan Congress will run up a deficit of more than $200 billion.
The federal government collects more than $75 billion in Social Security taxes each year, yet there is no money in the Social Security Trust Fund. The money has been used to cover up the real size of the deficit.
The burden of taxes, debt and over-regulation are destroying our economy. American products have been priced out of world markets, creating a permanent trade deficit. Over 9% of Californians of working age are out of work; in Riverside County more than 10% are unemployed.
The American dream of owning a home is out of reach of most of our people. Millions of Americans are one rent-check away from homelessness. Government in America has become a burden we can no longer afford.
In 1988 George Bush, running for President, promised that he would veto any tax hike passed by Congress. In 1990, President Bush signed into law the largest tax increase in history.
In 1992 Bill Clinton, running for President, promised that he would push through Congress a tax cut for middle class Americans. In 1993 President Clinton asked for, and Congress passed, the largest tax increase in history. Not only a record tax hike, but a retroactive increased applied to money earned before the new tax law was passed!
President Clinton is claiming that America is recovering from the Bush recession - the recession caused by the Bush tax hike. But unemployment remains high in California and even higher in Riverside County. And we are only now paying for the Clinton tax hike.
When government takes your money in taxes, you have less to spend or invest. When a business pays taxes, it has less capital to invest in new product development, expansion of production, or hiring of workers. We need real tax relief to pull California out of its lingering depression.
The Libertarian Party calls for real tax relief. Libertarians call for Abolition of the Federal Income Tax and the California State Income Tax.
Repeal of federal and state income taxes will mean thousands of dollars more for you and your family - every year.
You will have more money every year to pay off your mortgage, or to save for a down payment on a house. More money to pay for medical care. More money to spend on your child's education, or your own.
Real tax relief will mean more money for you, to spend on your own needs. You will even be able to afford a few luxuries for yourself, instead of buying luxuries for the politicians and bureaucrats who live off your taxes.
Eliminating federal and state income taxes will enable American businesses to produce more products and hire more workers, and you will be able to buy more. But we must repeal the income tax and abolish the Internal Revenue Service for a more important reason: to restore privacy and liberty to every American.
In order to collect income taxes, every working American has their name, address and other personal information in the computer files maintained by the Internal Revenue Service. The federal government knows where you live, where you work, how much you earn, and how much you own. President Lyndon Johnson and President Richard Nixon both used the Internal Revenue Service to harass their political opponents.
If the Internal Revenue Service accuses you of not paying enough taxes, you can be required to provide additional information on money you have earned and spent over a period of years.
If you are accused of assault, rape, murder or theft, the government has to prove your guilt. If the Internal Revenue Service accuses you of not paying enough taxes, you must prove your innocence. If we want to guarantee liberty and privacy to every American, we must abolish the income tax and close down the Internal Revenue Service.
The federal government collects more than $500 billion each year in income taxes. Abolition of the federal income tax would free up more than a half trillion dollars for private investment and personal consumption. We can have a balanced federal budget with no income tax if we cut federal government spending by about $800 billion.
We spend $120 billion a year defending western Europe and Japan. Europe and Japan are rich enough to provide for their own defense, and we can save $120 billion every year if we let Europe provide for its own security.
We spend $21 billion a year in aid to foreign governments. Much of this largesse ends up in the pockets or the bank accounts of corrupt officials. Private investment will make real development possible. We can end foreign aid and cut $21 billion out of federal spending.
We can end subsidies to business. It is not the purpose of government to enrich the well-connected at the expense of the rest of us.
We can privatize functions that the government does not perform well. Many functions now carried out by the federal government can be performed more efficiently by state and local governments and by voluntary associations.
Libertarians believe that the only proper function for government is to protect our lives, liberty and property. The federal government should defend us from external enemies, and protect our constitutional rights. If the government limited itself to these functions could do them well at a fraction of what government costs now.
The federal debt now totals more than $4.7 trillion. Since the tax hike of 1990, the debt has increased by $1.9 trillion. The federal deficit has remained high even after the Clinton tax hike. More than eighteen million people work for government in America, more than work in all the factories in the entire country.
We must act now to end our headlong rush into political and social bankruptcy. The Libertarian Party invites every taxpayer to join our effort to liberate America from the burden of a government grown too big and too powerful. Help us to retire the career politicians in Washington and Sacramento, and you can enjoy the benefits of lower taxes through less government.