Rep. Paul Ryan on the Budget
April 5th, 2007 by Brendan SteinhauserRep. Paul Ryan (R-WI), the ranking member on the House Budget Committee, wrote a great piece for Human Events today. Here is an excerpt:
House Republicans and Democrats agree on one thing: Congress can and must balance the federal budget over the next five years. Where our approaches diverge sharply is how we go about reaching this shared goal.
Last week, as the House of Representatives debated the Fiscal Year 2008 budget resolution, it became clear that this was much more than a simple discussion about budgetary priorities over the next few years. In fact, it was a much larger debate about our governing philosophies, about what kind of society we envision, and about the kind of country we want to leave for future generations.
The budget the Democrat leadership proposed, which the House approved by a narrow majority vote, is true to their philosophy. They believe that more government is better government, and that the best way to solve the myriad problems we face in this country is to spend more and more and to tax our people more and more to pay for that spending.
Our alternative budget preserves the tax relief adopted in 2001 and 2003, including marginal income tax rates, the 10% bracket, the child tax credit, capital and dividend tax rates, and marriage penalty and death tax relief. Allowing these taxes to return to previous levels would not only deliver a widespread tax hike to U.S. taxpayers, but also undercut American businesses’ ability to compete globally.
