Tax Relief to Grow the Economy
and Create Jobs

Taxes, by their very nature, reduce a citizen’s
freedom. Their proper role in a free society should be
to fund services that are essential and authorized by
the Constitution, such as national security, and the
care of those who cannot care for themselves. We reject
the use of taxation to redistribute income, fund
unnecessary or ineffective programs, or foster the
crony capitalism that corrupts both politicians and
corporations.

Our goal is a tax system that is simple, transparent,
flatter, and fair. In contrast, the current IRS code
is like a patchwork quilt, stitched together over time
from mismatched pieces, and is beyond the comprehension of the average citizen. A reformed code
should promote simplicity and coherence, savings
and innovation, increase American competitiveness,
and recognize the burdens on families with children.
To that end, we propose to:

• Extend the 2001 and 2003 tax relief
  packages—commonly known as the Bush tax
  cuts—pending reform of the tax code, to keep
  tax rates from rising on income, interest, dividends,
  and capital gains;
• Reform the tax code by reducing marginal
  tax rates by 20 percent across-the-board in a
  revenue-neutral manner;
• Eliminate the taxes on interest, dividends,
  and capital gains altogether for lower and
  middle-income taxpayers;
• End the Death Tax; and
• Repeal the Alternative Minimum Tax.

American Competitiveness
in a Global Economy

American businesses now face the world’s highest
corporate tax rate. It reduces their worldwide
competitiveness, encourages corporations to move
overseas, lessens investment, cripples job creation,
lowers U.S. wages, and fosters the avoidance of tax liability—
without actually increasing tax revenues. To
level the international playing field, and to spur job
creation here at home, we call for a reduction of the
corporate rate to keep U.S. corporations competitive
internationally, with a permanent research and development
tax credit, and a repeal of the corporate
alternative minimum tax. We also support the recommendation
of the National Commission on Fiscal
Responsibility and Reform, as well as the current
President’s Export Council, to switch to a territorial
system of corporate taxation, so that profits earned
and taxed abroad may be repatriated for job-creating
investment here at home without additional penalty.

Fundamental Tax Principles

We oppose retroactive taxation; and we condemn
attempts by activist judges, at any level of government,
to seize the power of the purse by ordering
higher taxes. We oppose tax policies that divide
Americans or promote class warfare.

Because of the vital role of religious organizations, charities, and fraternal benevolent societies in
fostering benevolence and patriotism, they should
not be subject to taxation, and donations to them
should continue to be tax deductible.

In any restructuring of federal taxation, to guard
against hypertaxation of the American people, any
value added tax or national sales tax must be tied to
the simultaneous repeal of the Sixteenth Amendment,
which established the federal income tax.