Do the neocons think we aren't watching them screw us? On June 14, the Republicans voted against a budget amendment to bar companies incorporated offshore to avoid US taxes from contracting with the government. But John Campbell (R-Ca 48), who campaigned as the "deficit hawk" joined the Repbulican rabble and voted down the amendment. I have a plan to eliminate the budget deficit.
Cal-48, CAMPBELL PROTECTS CORPORATE TAX EVASION.
Despite campaigning as the "Deficit Hawk," John Campbell voted on May 18, 2006 in favor of the $2.8 Trillion GOP Budget Buster Bill that adds hundreds of billions to the record deficit and increases the debt limit by $263 billion to $6.9 Trillion.
On June 14, 2006, Campbell had the opportunity to stand for tax fairness, but stayed seated. He voted against Rep. Rosa DeLauro's (D-CT) amendment to the FY 07 Treasury, Transportation and Housing appropriations bill that would have banned new contracts with corporate expatriates - companies that have incorporated on paper overseas in the tax haven countries of Bermuda, Barbados, the Cayman Islands, Antigua, Panama. 66% of companies incorporated in overseas tax havens, that contract with the government, pay NO federal taxes. Companies who reincorporate overseas to reduce the tax they owe to the U.S. Treasury, cost the government an estimated $5 billion per year.
We cannot continue this way. Campbell's "Borrow and Squander" program is bankrupting our future. The last time the federal government had a balanced budget and a budget surplus was under President Clinton. The Republicans are serving their constituency, the corporations. will to reign in deficit spending. We must, or America will never recover.
When elected, I will:
Let the tax cuts expire as scheduled in 2008 and 2010 unless the budget improves before then. Republicans want voters to believe spending increases, not tax cuts, caused the deficit. That is false. The swing from a $236 billion budget surplus in 2000 to a $371 billion deficit today is a huge deterioration in the nation's fiscal balance equal to 5.3 percent of the economy. Of that, 62 percent is due to tax revenues.
Reimpose bulletproof budget rules. Line item vetos are shopworn delaying tactics that let politicians avoid harsh calls. A real deficit reduction plan will call for a return to the budget rules in effect from 1990 to 2001. The "pay as you go" rules created the budget surpluses under Clinton by requiring Congress to pay for both tax cuts and entitlement spending increases. In March, fifty Republican senators refused to reinstate the rules despite forty-four Democrats and five Republicans voting for the reinstatement.
Spend wisely. Despite the Republican talk about wasteful spending, they have never offered specifics about what they would ax. In the past, Republican targets have been programs that foster better education, health, and infrastructure. Those are precisely the investments we need for economic vitality.
Our government must lead the way in fiscal responsibility. We can't run our personal finances the way the Republicans are running our federal budget.
I will balance spending and taxes. This is the path to eliminating the deficits and returning America's economic strength. I will do what is right, let the consequences follow.