Georgia Republicans Speak Out on Tax Day

Monday, April 18, 2011 will mark Tax Day. Members of the Georgia delegation joined together to comment on the impact Tax Day has on American families and small businesses, and how improvements can be made to our tax system. Below are their statements.

Rep. Lynn Westmoreland (GA-03): “Each year as I sit down to prepare my taxes, I am reminded of just how convoluted our tax code has become. It’s filled with confusing and sometimes contradicting language and secret loopholes, creating an unfair system where those who can afford high-priced tax professionals can skirt their obligations while everyday Americans are stuck with an ever-growing tax burden. That’s why I have been a strong supporter of the Fair Tax. The Fair Tax would replace the income tax with a sales tax, eliminating the confusing process of filing your income tax return each year. However, the answer to the confusion of our tax code is absolutely not higher taxes, like those proposed by President Obama. The answer to our current debt problem is less spending in Washington – not higher taxes on the backs of American families and small businesses. ”

Rep. Tom Price, M.D. (GA-06), Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee: “Washington has a spending problem, not a revenue problem, and yet we are reminded every Tax Day that there are those in Washington who still believe we need to take more from the American people in order to grow government. Every dollar taken by the government is one less dollar the American people can use themselves to pursue their dreams, grow our economy, and create jobs. Rather than higher taxes, we should focus on tax reform that will lower rates and broaden the base to make America more competitive in the global economy and expand opportunities for families.”

Rep. Jack Kingston (GA-01): “Economic growth doesn’t start in Washington, it ends there. That’s why I work every day to keep the tax burden on working Georgians low and to serve as a check on the growth of government. The road to recovery starts with allowing working families and small businesses to keep more of what they make, not siphoning their hard-earned dollars to big government bureaucrats.”

Rep. Austin Scott (GA-08): “This week the President outlined a plan that raises taxes on nearly every single American taxpayer. Americans are taxed enough already. As a small business owner, I can tell you that taking more money out of the American people’s pockets is not the way to create jobs and stimulate our economy. We must continue to cut unnecessary spending and incentivize small business owners instead of taxing them at every turn.”

Rep. Tom Graves (GA-09): “To borrow the famous words of Bastiat, the arrival of Tax Day marks another year of ‘legal plunder.’ As Americans review how much of their hard earned paychecks were taken by the government, the President has made a poorly timed promise to raise taxes on families and small businesses by 2013. With our towering debt and deficits, and the many years of fiscal mismanagement, it defies common sense to give this government a raise. The big government experiment has failed, and I’ll continue to make that case over the next year as we fight to defend the family paycheck.”

Rep. Paul Broun (GA-10): “This year’s Tax Day serves as a painful reminder that Americans across the country are struggling everyday to make ends meet, and unemployment is still skyrocketing in almost every city nation-wide. Our unsustainable debt and imploding deficits continue to raise doubt and uncertainty for job creators, so the economy remains in limbo. Yet, President Obama’s only plan to kick the economy into gear involves raising taxes and expanding the overreach of the federal government. The last thing families and small businesses want to do is hand over more of their hard earned paychecks to the government. Moreover, hiking taxes will only further kill jobs and drive our small businesses deeper into the red. I will continue to fight for meaningful spending cuts, to repeal Obamacare and its job-killing mandates, and to ensure the growth of the private sector – so that next year’s Tax Day won’t be such a sting.”

Rep. Phil Gingrey, M.D. (GA-11): “Today, many Americans and small businesses will file their income taxes, entrusting their government to use those tax dollars responsibly. While most believe their tax burden is already too high, if President Obama has his way, that burden will be even higher,” said Rep. Gingrey. “A tax increase on America’s job creators would be devastating to our economy and would stifle our rate of job growth, which is already painfully slow. The President must understand — in order to prevent the burden of our nation’s fiscal crisis from being passed on to job creators and America’s workforce — the solution to our nation’s fiscal woes is not more taxation, it’s less spending.”
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