Friday, February 06, 2009

Tell your US Senators 'NO' on the economic stimulus


Government reform orgs. deliver news on major events within their areas of expertise.
From:
National Taxpayers Union

Join in the stimulus fight! It's not too late!

NTU worked hard during the fall of 2008 to stop a $50 billion "stimulus" package. We were outraged that the House's legislative scheme gave priority to projects that "can award contracts based on bids within 120 days of enactment." In other cases, it favored "those activities that are labor intensive." Speed and make-work shouldn't be the primary drivers of how taxpayer dollars are spent. Thankfully, enough Senators agreed with us to defeat the plan.

Taxpayers are now facing a spending spree of a far greater magnitude. President Barack Obama, along with Congressional Democrats, want to bail out state governments and dump money into questionable infrastructure projects with the hope that the economy will somehow respond.

But keep in mind that bloated government budgets don't make economies soar. They certainly didn't work here in the 1970s, the last time Washington tried spending its way out of a slump. It hasn't worked in Japan either, where they've poured huge sums into public works projects over past decades, helping to boost their national debt level to 150 percent of Gross Domestic Product -- the highest in the industrialized world. Japanese citizens are still waiting for the boom.

The reason for these failures is simple -- pumping money into the inefficient public sector means taking it out of the private sector through taxes or borrowing, which can reduce or stall growth overall.

Many state and city governments, some of whom are experiencing deficits of their own making, are also looking for a bailout via a "stimulus" bill. On the whole, state outlays have grown 124 percent over where they were 10 years ago, and debt has increased by 95 percent. Clearly, some states and localities allowed themselves to be caught up in the borrow-and-spend mania. Now that the economy has soured, they want Uncle Sugar to finance their habits. This just isn't fair to taxpayers.

The better way to jump-start the economy and keep it going is through tax relief. How about locking into place the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts that are set to expire after 2010? If families can count on current tax rates, many will be more comfortable investing today instead of fearing the tax man's bigger bite in 2011. Or what about allowing full and immediate expensing for small businesses? This would encourage firms to invest in the assets such as equipment and real estate that could help expand and invigorate operations.

Pro-growth tax policy can best lay the groundwork for a sustainable economic expansion -- one that will provide the solid foundation for tomorrow's tax revenues.
Action Alert

Outraged taxpayers across the country are calling their Senators and asking them to vote "NO" on the "stimulus" hoax.

In fact, many NTU supporters have told us they get a busy signal or a full voicemail box after placing a call to their Senators.

You can still be heard by sending your Senators an e-mail message today.

Time is running out, as the Senate is trying to cram this awful bill through today.

E-mail your Senators right now -- it will only take a moment!

>All Things Reform Mobile: allthingsreform.mofuse.mobi >Capitol Switchboard: 202-224-3121 (not toll-free) >US House/Senate Mobile: bit.ly/members >Contact your reps tips: bit.ly/dear >Shortened All Things Reform URL: bit.ly/dw

Reblog this post [with Zemanta]