by Congressman Sam Graves
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When it comes to taxes, I find myself agreeing with legendary television and radio personality Arthur Godfrey. He said, "I’m proud to be paying taxes in the United States. The only thing is… I could be just as proud for half the money."
Yet, some folks in Washington want you to pay a lot more in taxes. The budget passed last week by Nancy Pelosi and Washington Democrats would increase the average Missourians’ tax bill by $2,825 a year.
Their budget would raise taxes by $683 billion over five years. The increase is three times larger than the largest tax increase enacted to date. In 1993, President Bill Clinton raised taxes by $240 Billion. The new tax increases include an increase in the marginal rates, elimination of the 10 percent bracket for low income individuals and higher taxes on marriage, children, small businesses, death and investments.
The budget also calls for an astonishing 8.8 percent increase in non-emergency discretionary spending or $82 billion dollars. It also spends "advance appropriations" of $2 billion dollars. This money is spent on future budgets and is exempt from the current budget rules.
This budget once again proves that Washington is going the wrong way. Instead of increasing taxes and increasing spending, Washington needs to tighten its belt.
It is high time that fiscal sanity was brought back to the Capitol. Representatives were sent here to make tough choices. I will fight to prevent tax increases and spending we cannot afford every step of the way.