Gary Johnson in The Washington Times
On Budget & Economy:
Cut federal budget by 43% to bring it into balance
I have proposed cutting the federal budget by 43 percent to bring it into balance. It can be done. It requires the will and ability to ignore and even fight the special interests that have a vested interest in more and more government spending.
Our system is corrupted by special-interest campaign contributions. Crony capitalism permeates our government. The result is that, as the Congressional Budget Office reported this week, the deficit for 2012 will once again exceed $1 trillion.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
Feb 2, 2012
On Corporations:
Visited Occupy Wall Street; we need radical surgery
With the real unemployment rate probably well above 10 percent, we have to, as President Kennedy said, "get America moving again." When I visited Occupy Wall Street, I felt the frustration of young people who wanted to work but couldn't get an interview,
much less a job. What's even more frustrating is that when I visit business owners and employers, I meet people who want to hire, but can't.
Meanwhile, the federal government is spending us deeper and deeper into debt while we shell out billions in foreign aid we can no longer afford and trillions more for foreign wars in which our national
interest is just not apparent to me.
Republicans and Democrats have both failed to respond to this reality. In order to create jobs now, we need radical surgery, not a haircut.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
Feb 2, 2012
On Foreign Policy:
We can no longer afford to shell out billions in foreign aid
When I visited Occupy Wall Street, I felt the frustration of young people who wanted to work but couldn't get an interview, much less a job. When I visit business owners and employers, I meet people who want to hire, but can't.
Meanwhile, the federal government is spending us deeper and deeper into debt while we shell out billions in foreign aid we can no longer afford and trillions more for foreign wars in which our national interest is just not apparent to me.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
Feb 2, 2012
On Jobs:
Governments don't create jobs--businesses do
When I was governor of New Mexico, I had the highest job growth of any of the 50 governors. But I didn't create a single job--businesses did. I just got government out of their way. We have an unprecedented opportunity to use today's crisis to
return us to economic growth and prosperity. Never before has the government been such an obstacle to employment. Republicans and Democrats have regulated and taxed our economy to where we're lagging behind
Brazil, Russia, China, Israel and India in terms of growth and innovation.Government can't grow us out of this mess--government is the problem.
Radical tax reform and spending discipline can bring America back. Let's get America working again.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
Feb 2, 2012
On Social Security:
Replace the payroll tax with FairTax
We need to get rid of payroll taxes. Look at it from the perspective of employers for a moment. When they want to hire someone, it costs more than just the wage they're paying. They have to pay payroll taxes, including for Social Security and Medicare.
That cost is about 10% of the wages they pay an employee. Remove that burden, and employers will be able to hire 10% more people. With an unemployment rate of 10%, why wouldn't we jump at this chance? The Fair-tax replaces employment and payroll taxes.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
Feb 2, 2012
On Tax Reform:
Get rid of income tax and capital-gains tax
We need to get rid of the income tax. Giant, slow corporations spend their money on lobbying because tax avoidance is where their profit is. General Electric earned $14.2 billion in 2010 and paid zero taxes on it. Why?
Because it has the lobbyists to get subsidies and tax breaks.But those mom-and-pop stores? The tech startups? The nimble new corporations with new ideas and new visions for our economy? They pay as much as 35 cents on every dollar they earn.
When the company pays its employees, the government taxes that money again. We need to stop taxing work, savings and investment. I advocate removing all income taxes, all capital-gains taxes,
and replacing them with a consumption tax, kind of a national sales tax called the Fair-tax.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
Feb 2, 2012
On Tax Reform:
FairTax on all new goods & services, with prebates for poor
How does Fair-tax fund the government? When anyone purchases a new good or service for personal consumption, be it a DVD or a yacht, the person is taxed. Fair-tax doesn't tax used goods or business-to-business purchases.Some think the
Fair-tax is regressive, but in fact it's progressive--taxing the wealthy more than the poor. Fair-tax issues a "prebate" for families to spend on food, clothing, transportation, medical care or whatever they want to spend it on--it's their money.
Undocumented immigrants will pay their taxes if they want to buy anything. They need a Social Security card to receive a prebate, so the incentive is for immigrants to get themselves on the books as fast as possible.
The Fair-tax replaces employment taxes, payroll taxes, all income taxes, and all capital-gains taxes.
Source: Gary Johnson, "America moving again" in The Washington Times
Feb 2, 2012
Page last updated: Sep 18, 2022