Taxes and Spending - we've been asking the wrong question (Hope for America)

The key question that should be asked and answered is "How much money should be taken from the private sector and moved to the federal government annually?"  

Should we tax the rich more or add higher tariffs? Should we tax the middle class less? We spend a lot of time arguing how much each group should be taxed but avoid asking how much should taxes be overall. Currently there is no control on how much the government can tax. The Boston Tea Party was a protest on taxation and one of the key events of the revolution. Uncertainty in tax policy stifles the economy. How much to tax needs to be coupled with a limit on spending (how much debt is acceptable). Spending more than we take in is a tax on our children. We get benefit and send the bill to the next generation.  

It is time for this to change.  

The Next Movement solution: Pass a constitutional amendment that limits the amount of money the federal government can take in as a percentage of GDP and limit the national debt. 

There is and should be conversation on what the percentage should be and the limit on national debt. The average revenue from 2003-2022 according to the CBO is 16.6% with about 6% being Social Security and Medicare. I would start the conversation with proposing a 12% limit on federal revenue (excluding SS/Medicare which I will discuss in a separate post later).  I would recommend building in a federal emergency fund to cover unforeseen emergencies (natural disasters, viruses, etc.) with the ability to go into debt temporarily for extreme emergencies. There would need to be a grace period to get us out of our current debt.

Congress owns the purse strings and needs to be fiscally responsible with our money and or children's money. 

Once this is in place, the American people can elect the candidates that best represent how they want to spend that money and who they want to collect the money from. 

Results of tax revenue and national debt limits:

1) Predictability enabling economic stability because a shift in political power does not fundamentality change the overall tax situation.

2) Incentive of the federal government to grow overall economy because that is how they get to spend more.

3) Focus spending on the highest priorities of the American people.

4) Protect the next generation so that they can decide how to spend their money.

5) Pandering to one constituency based on tax policy requires a trade-off so on balance the tax code is incented to be more fair for the greatest number of citizens. 

6) Less reliance on foreign investment which provides an incentive to keep the American people at the center (and not a foreign entity).

Related references: (a) Congressional Budget Office: https://www.cbo.gov/publication/59730

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