Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Kathy Salvi Answers Chicago Tribune Question 3 – Deficit, Tax Cuts, Pork & Entitlement Spending
Here is 8th congressional district Republican candidate Kathy Salvi's answer to the third question of the Chicago Tribune questionnaire.
The federal government ran a deficit of about $300 billion last year, and the national debt stands at more than $8 trillion. Leaders in the House and Senate came close to agreement late in 2005 on nearly $40 billion in reductions in federal spending over five years. At that, entitlement spending would still grow at an annual rate of 5.2 percent. How would you move the government closer to a balanced budget? Would you rescind tax cuts? Would you reduce entitlement spending? Please be specific.
My answer
The Bush tax cuts raised revenues to the federal government by reinvigorating the economy. I would not support an attempt to rescind the Bush tax cuts. Raising taxes would harm the economy, throw people out of work and in short be a major mistake.
I would support an across the board limit on the growth in spending for all discretionary matters. The recent spending reduction you highlight is a starting point. I would also support significant reductions of government departments and agencies such as HUD and NEA. These functions can be converted to block grants to the states and could be significantly reduced as well.
I also favor a dramatic curtailing of earmarks which have been the fuel for massive pork barrel spending increases and have contributed to the culture of deal making and challenged ethics that have been such a problem in Washington and Illinois. Over the course of this campaign, each candidate, including myself, will need to outline spending reductions and methods to curtail the growth of the federal government.
The federal government ran a deficit of about $300 billion last year, and the national debt stands at more than $8 trillion. Leaders in the House and Senate came close to agreement late in 2005 on nearly $40 billion in reductions in federal spending over five years. At that, entitlement spending would still grow at an annual rate of 5.2 percent. How would you move the government closer to a balanced budget? Would you rescind tax cuts? Would you reduce entitlement spending? Please be specific.
My answer
The Bush tax cuts raised revenues to the federal government by reinvigorating the economy. I would not support an attempt to rescind the Bush tax cuts. Raising taxes would harm the economy, throw people out of work and in short be a major mistake.
I would support an across the board limit on the growth in spending for all discretionary matters. The recent spending reduction you highlight is a starting point. I would also support significant reductions of government departments and agencies such as HUD and NEA. These functions can be converted to block grants to the states and could be significantly reduced as well.
I also favor a dramatic curtailing of earmarks which have been the fuel for massive pork barrel spending increases and have contributed to the culture of deal making and challenged ethics that have been such a problem in Washington and Illinois. Over the course of this campaign, each candidate, including myself, will need to outline spending reductions and methods to curtail the growth of the federal government.
