On Thursday, October 26, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Senate’s budget resolution 216-212. The resolution carves the path for a proposed tax bill that could save up to $1.5 trillion and which would only require 50 votes in the Senate to pass, circumventing any attempt at a filibuster.
The following statements from budget and tax experts at The Heartland Institute – a free-market think tank – may be used for attribution. For more comments, refer to the contact information below. To book a Heartland guest on your program, please contact Media Specialist Billy Aouste at [email protected] and 312/377-4000 or (cell) 847/445-7554.
“Last November the American people rejected the Washington establishment status quo. Today’s vote is a step forward toward ending that status quo and replacing it with real tax reform. Let’s hope Congress now does the really serious work of writing and passing a simpler, fairer, more transparent tax code.”
Tim Huelskamp, Ph.D.
President
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
312/377-4000
Dr. Huelskamp represented Kansas’ 1st District in the House of Representatives from 2011 to 2017.
“Based on long experience with tax-rate cuts, the focus on deficits is unwarranted. Revenues soared after the Reagan tax rate cuts of the early 1980s, the Kennedy tax rate cuts of the 1960s, the Coolidge-Harding tax rate cuts of the 1920s, and all the capital gains tax rate cuts since 1978. The corporate and business tax rate cuts are long overdue, and in particular will generate soaring revenue, if not in year one, after a couple of years or so.”
Peter Ferrara
Senior Fellow for Entitlement and Budget Policy
The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
703/546-6814
Mr. Ferrara is the author of Power to the People: The New Road to Freedom and Prosperity for the Poor, Seniors, and Those Most in Need of the World’s Best Health Care (2015), and The Obamacare Disaster (2010).
“The U.S. House’s approval of the Senate’s budget resolution checks off one of Congress’ priorities for the year, and allows Congress to use the reconciliation process, reducing the difficulty of passing a tax reform bill, once one is written and proposed this year. Unfortunately, because the Senate version ignores the House’s entitlement spending reductions and reforms, Congress remains on its decades-long course of driving up the federal deficit. The new budget will increase the federal deficit by as much as $1.5 trillion, over the next 10 years, giving future taxpayers the check for present-day spending.
“To defuse the federal deficit’s ticking time bomb, the federal government must spend less of our money. Because the problem was not addressed this time around, debt interest payments and ineffective entitlement programs will continue to crowd out everything else, draining taxpayers’ wallets. Likewise, every dollar spent by government is a dollar – or perhaps more – crowding out private investment, artificially distorting the decisions of business owners and consumers.
“The deficit is an anchor weighing down Americans’ economic prosperity. If we don’t do something about that anchor sooner, we’ll all drown later. Government taxes and government spending are two sides of the same equation, and – sooner or later – the math will stop adding up.”
Jesse Hathaway
Research Fellow, Budget and Tax Policy
The Heartland Institute
Managing Editor, Budget & Tax News
[email protected]
312/377-4000
“Revenue shortfall is not an issue in cutting taxes if you understand three things – assuming you think in zero sum game terms. Inspectors General have identified over $600 billion in waste that could and should easily be cut from the budget. The federal government owns valuable assets in the form of land, buildings and so forth that could easily generate over $1 trillion in revenue if sold. A number of government agencies could be cut back or eliminated with no loss since they provide little or no value or often negative value to the country.”
Christopher Garbacz
Consultant
Policy Advisor, The Heartland Institute
[email protected]
601/961-5413
Tim Huelskamp served as president of The Heartland Institute from 2017 to 2019.
Peter Ferrara, J.D., is a senior fellow at The Heartland Institute and an advisor for entitlement reform and budget policy at the National Tax Limitation Foundation.
Jesse Hathaway is a policy advisor for budget and tax issues at The Heartland Institute.
