By By Jo Bonner
Millions of American families are scrambling to meet next week’s tax-filing deadline and, incredibly, now is the very time the Democratic majority in Congress has chosen to push through a budget that spends too much, borrows too much and taxes too much.
With today’s difficult economy, many families have been forced to tighten their belts and cut back in order to make ends meet, yet the budget passed by both the House and the Senate last week makes none of the same difficult choices.
The $3.5 trillion budget will run a deficit of $9.3 trillion - $2.3 trillion more than initially claimed by the White House. This represents a more than 9 percent increase in non-defense discretionary spending from the previous year. It will also raise taxes by $1.4 trillion over the next 10 years.
In fact, next Monday, April 13, marks the day Americans will have earned enough money to pay this year’s tax obligations at the federal, state and local levels.
According to the Tax Foundation, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.
As more and more Americans across the country are learning the details of this $3.6 trillion plan, fewer and fewer of them support it.
Struggling families do not need Washington taking even more money out of their pockets. Many Americans are being forced to carefully budget their hard-earned money, and they should expect no less from their leaders in Washington.
As I have said before, it is a sad commentary that Washington thinks the federal government can spend your hard-earned tax dollars better than you.
Another casualty of this budget is small businesses, which account for around 70 percent of our nation’s jobs. As our nation’s most productive job creators, it only makes sense to provide relief directly to the small business.
The budget passed by the House this week will make life even more difficult for small businesses. The $1.5 trillion tax hike on the “wealthy” will hit small businesses particularly hard.
Most small businesses do not pay corporate income taxes; they pay taxes on their income on their individual tax returns. In fact, small business accounts for over 50 percent of those facing tax increases.
According to the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center, 50.3 percent of all filers in the top bracket earn at least 25 percent of their income from business activities.
President Obama made the rounds last month trying to build support for his budget proposal. He held two nationally-televised town hall meetings focusing on his budget, and he also went on Jay Leno’s show and “60 Minutes” to talk about the budget.
The president held a nationally-televised primetime news conference to talk details of his budget with an estimated 42 million Americans watching.
Yet, during this time people who felt positively about his budget fell from 44% in late February to 39% at the end of March. Negative opinions of the budget increased to 27% during the same time.
At the end of the day, however, massive expansion of the federal government and the biggest-spending spree the country has ever seen passed the House by a vote of 233-196.
Better, more responsible alternatives were put forward, yet sadly, they were voted down. Both the Republican Study Committee (RSC), of which I am a member, and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI), ranking Republican member of the House Budget Committee put forward responsible alternative budget proposals.
The Republican plan would curb spending by placing a freeze on all new government spending for next five years, except for our commitment to national defense and our veterans.
It would simplify the tax code and lower taxes, reducing the burden on families and providing real incentives for job growth. Married couples making less than $100,000 would be taxed at 10 percent under this plan. The corporate tax rate would also be lowered from 35 to 25 percent - making businesses more competitive and creating more jobs here at home.
The Republican budget would reduce our dependence on foreign oil by investing in new and renewable sources of energy, such as wind and solar power, and by exploring for oil and natural gas here at home.
Friends, it is time the federal government followed the lead of American families and learned to tighten our belts when it comes to spending the money of hardworking taxpayers.
My staff and I work for you. If we can ever be of service, do not hesitate to call my office toll free at 1-800-288-8721 or visit my website at http://bonner.house.gov.
Jo Bonner is a U.S. congressman. His column appears weekly.