Convert Paulson’s Last $350 Billion into Tax Holiday, says U.S. Congressman

“Billions of Dollars for Taxpayers, but Not One More Penny for Executive Bailouts”

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As millions of Americans are hoping to maximize their holiday shopping budgets on today’s Black Friday bargains, U.S. Congressman Louie Gohmert is fighting to prevent more outrageous spending sprees by Washington with taxpayer dollars going to executive cronies.

With $350 billion of the $700 billion bailout still available to Paulson pending Congressional approval, a conservative Texas lawmaker is proposing to put that money towards a tax holiday from both personal income tax and FICA tax for Americans during January and February of 2009.

He stated, “By instating a temporary tax holiday, we could electrify the American economy and provide overwhelming relief to taxpayers, all for less than the cost of the current failed Paulson-Pelosi bailout system.”

“We need to give this money to the people who earned it. I am sick of Washington millionaires trying to decide which of their cronies should get the next wad of taxpayer money,” Rep. Louie Gohmert continued. “Think about how much you would have if you didn’t have any social security or income tax withheld from your pay check, or if you didn’t have to pay those taxes for January and February! Americans could take and invest their own money where they believe it should go – to paying down mortgages, buying a new car, making credit card payments. The economy would get relief where it is needed the most. Why try to decide how to prevent foreclosures? Just give taxpayers their own money to catch up on their payments. Those in lower income brackets who are hit the hardest by the FICA tax would see huge money back, and then THEY could choose who should benefit from their hard earned money.  Even the self-employed and small business owners would receive a fantastic amount of their own much-needed money, and they will be able to invest that back into their businesses and even create the ability to hire more people.”

Gohmert is currently preparing a bill to declare the tax holiday for January and February of 2009 and is also gathering support at the same time. He said, “We can save more home mortgages, increase employment, and boost economic growth for a lower price tag with this plan than with any centralized bureaucratic program, all by giving the power back to the taxpayers. I am demanding that not another penny goes to executive bailouts, but these billions of taxpayer dollars should go to the taxpayers who earned them.”

According to American Solutions, a conservative think tank founded by former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, Americans pay $101.6 billion per month in personal income tax and $65.6 billion per month in FICA tax. Under Gohmert’s proposed plan, all of these taxes would not be paid during January and February of 2009, and the money would stay in the hands of American taxpayers – the ones who best know where economic stimulus should be targeted. Gohmert’s two month tax holiday would stimulate the economy while costing less than the remainder of the Paulson-Pelosi bailout plan.

Rep. Louie Gohmert (TX-01) has also recently proposed returning all 2008 income taxes to American taxpayers as a solution to boost the ailing economy, as he believes taxpayers, rather than the government, should be using their hard-earned money to choose the economy’s winners and losers.

Please Digg this!  digg.com | Source:  gohmert.house.gov

What is the libertarian position on the bailouts?

Most libertarians do not support bailouts, which force hard-working Americans to subsidize failing businesses, either through taxation or inflation. The current bailout proposals will cost every man, woman, and child in the U.S. about $3,000 apiece, and perhaps far more. What effect will losing this much buying power have on your family?

Such bailouts only encourage further mismanagement of funds and siphon money away from efficient businesses, causing layoffs in the latter. Thus, in addition to several thousand dollars in lost buying power, bailouts can actually cost you your job!

What would happen if the government didn’t take these actions?

If the government didn’t bail out the failing banks and mortgage companies, their stocks would take a nosedive. The stockholders and employees of these firms, not the American people as a whole, would suffer the ill effects of their poor lending practices.

However, other lending institutions would learn that making bad loans or investments to boost profits temporarily could lead to a permanent loss of their livelihood. Stockholders and fund managers would avoid risky companies in the future and monitor management decisions more closely. Consequently, letting the failing institutions of today bear the responsibility for their poor judgment is likely to prevent additional failures tomorrow.

Source: Dr. Mary Ruwart – ruwart.com

According to a Rockefeller Foundation poll, 85% of us believe that the country is on the wrong track.  Nearly half of those between ages 18 and 29 say America was better in the 90s.  People in that age group weren’t that old in he 90s, however, and you should probably ask their parents what they think.  82% want public works projects, paid for, of course, by our taxes, to save the economy.  70% say more government programs should help those now struggling.

Why do so many people think that the government that got us into this financial mess actually has the power or the know-how to fix things?  Why is everybody giving up and holding out their hands to wait for the government to take care of them?  Where is the work ethic that once pushed people to either work more or make yourself worth more to earn more money?

The amount of government we have has gotten us to where we are now.  More government will only mean more taxes and more problems.  We need to eliminate income tax and personal property tax right off the bat.  From there we need to reduce our military involvement from 130 countries around the world to one: ours.  We need to stop foreign aid and take of ourselves for a change.

We need to drastically reconfigure our government to a simpler, more economical version, the likes of which we haven’t seen for nearly 100 years.  But as long as 70% of people think MORE government is the answer, we will only continue along this path of decline.  That being the case, it looks more and more like our experiment in democracy is failing and this country is being swallowed by socialism.