JOE DEHN FOR CONGRESS

Ideally, our goal should be to replace as many tax-supported functions as possible with ones based on market solutions and voluntary actions, which would allow for dramatic cuts or even the elimination of many taxes in effect today. Meanwhile:

• I will not vote for any tax increases, tax rate increases, or "surcharges". Taxes are already too high. That's true for personal income taxes, corporate income taxes, "payroll" taxes, excise taxes, and tariffs.
• I will support any proposal to reduce income tax rates across the board, or to "flatten" them by reducing the higher rates, as long as it doesn't increase taxes for any other group.
• I will not vote for any new taxes – including any National Sales Tax or Value Added Tax (VAT).

Although some argue that we should increase rates for some people in the name of "fairness", I do not believe that shifting the burden from one class or special interest group to another is the answer. Current levels of taxation are already unfair to average working people because they would be better off being able to spend the money that they earn themselves. And the wealthy are already paying far more than their share of total taxes. The so-called "1%" are currently paying more in federal income taxes than all of the bottom 90% combined!

Taxation is inherently unjust, because it takes people's money without their consent. There is no way to make the income tax "fair" by taking more of anybody's income. The only way to make income taxes "less unfair" is to reduce them for everybody, to the point where they are not a significant burden on anybody.

Other taxes should also be reduced or, better yet, eliminated. The tariffs imposed by the Trump administration but now being continued by the Biden administrations are a kind of tax that hurts American consumers – and in the long run also American businesses as other countries respond with similar actions. Congress should act to roll back these tariffs, and to remove the president's ability to impose them unilaterally.

How can we avoid increasing taxes, given current spending levels, without continuing to add to the national debt?

We can't! The correct solution is to lower the level of spending – both to eliminate the deficit and so that taxes can also be reduced.