Paul Ryan in Saving Freedom
On Budget & Economy:
Road Map for America's Future: cut entitlement spending
Rep. Ryan has been working on major reforms of our tax code and entitlement programs for more than ten years. Realizing Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and private health insurance are all entwined with our tax code, Ryan spent two years working with
dozens of staff and experts to develop a comprehensive reform proposal that encompasses all of these important domestic issues. His plan is called A Road Map for America's Future. In his introduction to the plan, Ryan writes:"Currently, we are on a
path of unsustainable Federal Government spending. The main problem, and greatest threat to our nation's economic future, is the looming crisis of entitlement spending. The well-intentioned social insurance strategies of the past century--particularly
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid--are headed toward financial collapse...compounding this problem is a tax code that discourages work, saving, and investment--and puts American companies at a significant disadvantage with business overseas."
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.242-243
Jul 4, 2009
On Corporations:
8.5% Business Consumption Tax instead of taxing profit
The Road Map plan for business and corporate taxes is also simple and fair. Instead of taxing profits as we do now, the new plan would only tax what a business "consumes" to make a product or provide a service. It's called a Business Consumption Tax that
would be, in effect, a sales tax of 8.5% on everything a business buys. Under this plan, every business would have ample incentive to maximize profits and minimize expenses (which is the opposite of our current tax code).
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.244
Jul 4, 2009
On Free Trade:
8.5% tax on imports from foreign countries
Perhaps the best news for our economy and American jobs is that this plan would not tax American exports. Imported products from other countries will pay an 8.5% tax. This means our tax code would finally tax foreign and domestic manufacturing the same.
Our current tax code taxes American exports but not imports. This is killing American manufacturing and jobs and hurting our entire economy. We couldn't be more stupid!
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.244
Jul 4, 2009
On Health Care:
Road Map: buy health insurance from any state in the country
If the total value of the employer tax "exclusion" was added up and shared equally among all Americans, every family in America could receive $5,000 to buy their own health insurance. This is the Road Map proposal for health insurance. Employers could
continue to receive health insurance through their employer, and the employer could still deduct the cost of health insurance from their taxes if they so choose.Employers would offer portable health insurance plans employees can keep when they change
jobs (you get the $5,000 even when you are unemployed). Individuals who work for companies not offering health plans can shop for their own insurance. States could partner with the federal government to ensure high-risk individuals have access to
affordable insurance.
This plan includes a provision that would allow individuals to buy health insurance from any state in the country. Currently individuals can only buy plans certified in their state. This limits competition and increases prices.
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.245
Jul 4, 2009
On Health Care:
Replace Medicare with $9500/year private insurance payment
Under the Road Map plan for Medicare, there would be no changes for current retirees and those who are fifty-five and older. Those younger than 55, upon reaching the age of 65, would receive a standard payment of
$9,500 a year to pay for their private health insurance plan. This is the average amount Medicare currently spends per beneficiary.
The amount would be inflation adjusted, and high-risk seniors could apply for additional risk-adjusted payments. Low-income seniors can also establish a Medical Savings Account to pay for other medical expenses.
This is a freedom solution because future retirees would be free to own and control their health insurance.
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.246
Jul 4, 2009
On Principles & Values:
America's greatest strengths lie in Americans themselves
"This Road Map is built on a fundamental conviction that America's greatest strengths lie in Americans themselves--in their creativity, their productive capacities and their personal initiative. ...Therefore this plan, to the greatest extent possible,
builds on the initiative of individual Americans. Exercised responsibly in a free economy and a democratic political system. Strengthening the role of the individual is the key to invigorating the society and the economy." --Congressman Paul Ryan
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.242
Jul 4, 2009
On Social Security:
Road Map: invest 5.1% income into personal account
The Road Map plan for Social Security makes no changes in Social Security for current retirees or those over fifty-five years old. But Americans who are fifty-five and younger will have a choice to contribute part of their current payroll taxes into a
personal savings account they own and the government can't spend.Initially younger workers will be allowed to invest only 2% of their first $10,000 of annual income into their personal accounts and 1% of all income above $10,000. Eventually,
(by the time my children retire), workers will be able to invest 5.1 percentage points (nearly half) of the 12.4% that they and their employers now contribute to Social Security.
The Road Map plan guarantees no worker will ever receive less from
Social Security than is now promised under the current system. There will be no risk to workers who choose to save for their own future rather than retire as dependents of the government.
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.246-247
Jul 4, 2009
On Tax Reform:
Road Map: simplified two-level flat tax
The Road Map plan simplifies both the personal & corporate tax code. As individuals, we could choose between the current tax code and a simplified two-level flat tax. The simplified plan would tax the first $50,000 of individual income at 10%. All income
above $50,000 would be taxed at 25%. There are no taxes on interest, capital gains, dividends, no AMT, and no "death taxes."The new, simplified tax code eliminates nearly all existing tax deductions and exclusions, but it allows generous standard
deductions and personal exemptions. Individuals receive a $12,500 deduction. Personal exemptions allow $3,500 for each family member. Tax return could be done on a post card.
The Road Map plan would not require major changes in the current income tax
system now collected by employers. People who don't like the simplified tax alternative could stay with the current tax system. This gives people a choice, and the total tax revenue to the government would be the same. Who could complain about that?
Source: Saving Freedom, by Jim DeMint, p.243-244
Jul 4, 2009
Page last updated: Feb 22, 2019