Angle Publicizes Details For National Fiscal Responsibility

Reno, NV – Today, Sharron Angle, a Congressional candidate for District 2, revealed details of her 5-point Plan for National Fiscal Responsibility in front of the IRS office in Reno. Angle, an anti-tax advocate, used Tax Freedom Day as the day to rollout her fiscal policies. Angle pointed out that Tax Freedom Day comes later each year, and noted that Americans are paying out more on taxes than they spend collectively on clothing, groceries, and housing combined.

"In Nevada, I have consistently fought legislation that increases tax burdens on families, businesses, and seniors. I fought the 2003 tax increase, and I lead the fight in the U.S. Supreme Court to protect our 2/3-majority requirement to raise taxes and fees," said Angle. "Washington desperately needs a fighter for taxpayers, and I have the proven courage to make the tough votes for true tax and spending restraint." Quite often, Angle was the only no vote in the Nevada Legislature against unnecessary tax increases. "In Congress, I will join my vote with other conservatives to repeal taxes and regulations and cut wasteful government spending, and to create a national climate of fiscal responsibility," Angle confirmed.

Angle’s plan includes five major protections for taxpayers, including a permanent repeal of the Death Tax, a repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax, and a permanent cap on the Capital Gains Tax at 15%. Angle also wants simpler, fairer, and more transparent reforms to the IRS/income tax system, spending cuts in non-essential government programs and eliminating pork-filled "earmarking". Further details are as follows:

Angle 5 Point Plan for National Fiscal Responsibility

1. Permanent repeal of the Estate Tax/Death Tax, and the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT), and a permanent cap on the Capital Gains Tax at 15%, if not repeal of that tax altogether.

The Death Tax is among the cruelest taxes of all, punishing savings, investment, and hard work, while encouraging consumption and accounting red tape. This tax should be permanently eliminated.

Because the AMT is not adjusted for inflation, the number of middle class families paying this tax will jump from 4 million last year to 22.2 million in 2006. Families are forced to pay a minimum tax regardless of their deductions plus the additional cost for Americans to prepare their tax returns twice.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, the capital gains tax cuts of 2003 have already paid for themselves in increased total tax receipts of $124 billion more than predicted. The typical American investor is a middle-class person saving for retirement with a household income of about $65,000 per year. Without the permanent capital gains tax cap, there will be slowdowns in investments as well as job growth and our economy will be at serious risk.

2. Repeal of burdensome regulations. As President Reagan said, "… our present troubles parallel and are proportionate to the intervention and intrusion in our lives that result from unnecessary and excessive growth of government." We must repeal the 1974 Budget Act. This act was designed by liberals to make it easier to spend by stripping the President of the power to impound funds. This impoundment of funds was used by Presidents throughout our history to refuse to spend money if the funds were unnecessary. Congress was correct to deal with Enron types of accounting practices, but Sarbanes-Oxley is an over reaction that created an unconstitutional, unaccountable oversight board and imposes accounting regulations that overburden small businesses. It has pushed companies to go public in oversees markets and kills jobs. Senator Sarbanes and Congressman Oxley are retiring this year and we should retire their law as well in favor of SEC oversight.

3. Simpler, fairer, more transparent reforms to the IRS/income tax system. The typical taxpayer needs more than 30 hours to complete the income tax filing process all the while struggling with a more than 10,000 section tax code. Taxpayers spend more than $100 billion annually in tax preparation. The current tax code is anti-middle class and anti-worker. America can afford tax reform without exploding the budget.

4. Spending cuts in non-essential government programs. I support the White House plan to cut 141 minor programs, hold overall discretionary spending below the rate of inflation, and cut non-security discretionary spending that accounts for one fifth of the total budget.

I will say "no" to earmarks such as $320 million Alaska bridge to "nowhere" (Ketchican to Gravina Island), $4 million for a Montana parking garage, $3.85 million for the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Foundation, $2 million for a park in San Francisco, and billions more that were included among 6,000 pork projects in one bill in Congress alone last year. I will also support a presidential line item veto and enhanced rescission authority. We could save $300 billion by restructuring the Departments of Education, Commerce and Energy. The National Endowment for the Arts should be eliminated. Eliminate the MILC program (Milk Income Loss Contract Program) a depression era program that encourages milk production when prices are falling and directly conflicts with other pre-existing programs. With the boom in Ethanol prices we should not be subsidizing Midwest corn farmers. 

5. More prudent spending by essential government agencies. Rising claims for Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – the three big entitlement programs – will consume $1.1 trillion in 2006 or 43% of all federal spending. By 2040, all federal tax collections will barely be enough to pay for unfunded health and retirement benefits for Baby Boomers. Reforming these programs will be one of my top priorities. Payments must be made on time to doctors and hospitals. Emergency rooms can no longer serve as primary care for the uninsured. In the Legislature, I introduced affordable insurance legislation that removed costly mandates and created a basic health insurance policy with the ability to add those benefits that are specific to each person. I also introduced legislation that caps non-economic damages in all tort actions. I will support similar efforts at the Federal level for Associational healthcare and tort reform that would lower the cost of healthcare to businesses and individuals. Young workers must be allowed to investigate personal retirement savings account options.

Defense spending must be prioritized. In order to maximize our focus on today and tomorrow’s actual threats, we must seriously consider cutting systems designed for the conventional wars of the past: programs such as the Navy’s DD(X) destroyer costing $4 billion each, irrelevant against a Chinese submarine force, with a mission that could be carried out more efficiently by planes dropping precision guided munitions. Or the F-35 fighter program costing $250 billion and is unusable against the ballistic missiles of China, North Korea, or Iran. I will strongly back programs that support our fighting men and women such as increasing Special Forces battalions, our most heavily deployed unit, augment our submarine production to meet the Chinese challenge, and focus on a long-range strike aircraft that hovers over the battlefield searching for terrorist targets and missile launchers. We must also prepare medical countermeasures against bioterrorism.