GOVERNMENT SPENDING

 

Libertarians want to end wasteful and inefficient government spending

State and local government Minnesotans about fifteen cents on every dollar earned. That means if you work a forty hour week, six of those hours go to support state and local government before you ever punch the clock for the feds. Since 1960, our state budget has averaged double-digit growth every biennium and it’s grown by about $15 billion in just the last decade.

 

Libertarians think most government spending is very foolish and wasteful. In the federal politicians spend millions of dollars to urge people not to smoke, while spending millions more to subsidize tobacco farmers. They send billions overseas for foreign aid while the federal deficit swells. They spend millions to subsidize public art while working families struggle to pay their taxes. Politicians also run trains, bail out banks, construct houses and buildings, sell insurance, print books, and build basketball courts, the government tries to do everything! But the fact is, every service supplied by the government can be provided better and cheaper by private business in a competitive marketplace. The bulk of your welfare tax dollars goes to pay the handsome salaries of well-educated welfare workers. The poor get little from government welfare except for meager handouts and a cycle of despair.government

Libertarians want to stop the wasteful spending of taxpayers and get government out of “non-essential” expenses.

 

Libertarians support capitalism and free-market solutions to job creation

We need to make sure our economy is robust enough to get people back to work and resilient and flexible enough to meet the many challenges we will face in the years to come.

 

The key to long-lasting job-creation, economic growth, and rising incomes is open and competitive markets that reward value-creation and operate under the rule of law.

To achieve our goals, we need two types of broad-based reform.

First, we need to root out crony capitalism and return to the Rule of Law. We propose:

• Focusing economic regulation and law enforcement on the protection of rights and preservation of an equal playing field for all;

• Eliminating ALL regulations that insulate market incumbents from competition;

• Ending ALL government subsidies of specific industries or companies;

• Removing ALL special tax and regulatory treatment of particular industries or companies;

• Keeping government neutral with regard to technological solutions, investment decisions, business inputs and business methods, etc.;

• Getting rid of discretionary funds and returning the money to taxpayers.

 

Second, we need to simplify and streamline the tax system so that revenue raising is transparent and least burdensome to individuals, families, and businesses alike. We propose:

• Eliminating the B & O, Machine & Tools, Merchant Capital and other business taxes that hide the cost of taxation, burden employers, and reduce business activity;

• Moving to a uniform consumption tax on all final retail sales of goods and services.

• Reforming property taxes by excluding, or lowering the rate applied to, improvements to land;

• Preferring, where possible, user fees to general taxes.

 

 

MINIMUM WAGE

Libertarians advocate a world not of mandates, force, and decrees, but of voluntary agreements, opportunity, and free will

 

On the surface, raising the minimum wage seems like an easy way to boost the fortunes of the poor and working class. Legislators simply decree that wages must be higher, and low-income workers would instantly be better off. Or would they?

To begin, it’s important to note that working people do have reason to be unhappy. Not long ago, a minimum of $6.15/hour was seen as sufficient. But not anymore.

 

What happened?

The answer is that the dollar has been eroding in value. Since just the year 2000, the dollar has lost 25% of its purchasing power. It has lost an incredible 96% of its value over the past 100 years. It’s no wonder that many feel squeezed. This unstable valuation has put America’s financial system on a foundation of quicksand and jeopardized the living standard of every person, as employees find out that their earnings don’t buy as much as they once did, and as savers and seniors discover that their rainy-day funds and retirement accounts aren’t worth nearly as much as when they had worked to earn that money.

 

 

SOCIAL SECURITY

Securing Your Retirement

Politicians in Washington are stealing your future.

Every year, they take 12.4% of your income to prop up their failed Social Security system – a system that is heading toward bankruptcy.

 

If you are an American earning the median income of $31,695 per year, and were given the option of investing that same amount of money in a stock mutual fund, you would retire a millionaire – without winning the lottery or a TV game show. That million dollars would provide you with a retirement income of over $100,000 per year – about five times what you could expect from Social Security. Even a very conservative investment strategy would yield three times the benefits promised by Social Security.

 

Libertarians Want You to Control Your Own Money & Future!

Libertarians believe you should be able to opt out of Social Security and invest your money in your own personal retirement account. An account that you own and control – one that politicians can’t get their hands on.

 

Republicans and Democrats say it can’t be done – that your Social Security taxes are needed to pay benefits to today’s retirees. Instead of letting you invest in your own future, they want you to have faith that someone else will pay your benefits when it comes time for you to retire. Although most won’t admit it publicly, their “solutions” to the Social Security crises all come down to some combination of tax increases and benefit cuts.

 

Libertarians know that there’s a better way.

Countries like Chile, Mexico, Britain, and Australia have successfully made the transition from their failed Social Security systems to healthy systems based on individual retirement accounts. In Chile, over 90% of workers have opted out of the government-run system. It’s time America did as well.

 

The federal government owns assets worth trillions of dollars – assets that it simply doesn’t need to perform its Constitutional functions. By selling those assets over time, we can keep the promises that were made to today’s retirees, and to those nearing retirement, while freeing the rest of America from a failed Social Security system.

Libertarians will introduce and support legislation to give you that choice and put you in control of your own retirement future.

 

 

TAXES

Respecting the fruits of your labor

Just Defend Our Rights

Libertarians believe that if government’s role were limited to protecting our lives, rights, and property, then America would prosper and thrive as never before. Then the federal government could concentrate on protecting our Constitutional rights and defending us from foreign attack. A federal government that did only those two things, could do them better and at a small fraction of the cost.

 

How Can We Cut Taxes?

Instead of tending to the basics, the government has grown into a bloated conglomerate of political services that gets larger every year — with no end in sight.

 

For example, politicians spend millions of dollars to urge people not to smoke — while spending more millions to subsidize tobacco farmers. They send billions overseas for foreign aid — while the federal deficit swells. They spend millions to subsidize public art — while working families struggle to pay their taxes.

 

Politicians also run trains, bail out savings and loans, construct houses, sell insurance, print books, and build basketball courts — you name it! But the fact is, every service supplied by the government can be provided better and cheaper by private business.

 

Privatize And Cut Taxes

All over the world, governments are busy selling airlines, power plants, housing, and factories to private owners. Where inefficient government bureaucrats lost money and squandered tax dollars, hard-working private owners now make profits and create new jobs. Why can’t we do the same thing in America?

 

Defend America: Cut Taxes

Military expenses are over $250 billion a year! A large percentage of this is spent overseas to defend wealthy countries like Germany and Japan — who then wallop us in international trade. Let’s take them off military welfare. We can defend America better and save at least $100 billion a year in taxes.

 

Stop Bailing Out Industry

No one has the right to cover his losses at taxpayer expense — and yet wealthy corporations demand exactly that. The federal government has bailed out railroads, banks, and other corporations with your tax dollars. This must stop!

 

Replace Welfare: Cut Taxes

The bulk of your welfare tax dollars goes to pay the handsome salaries of well-educated welfare workers. The poor get little from government welfare except for meager handouts and a cycle of despair. Let’s get government out of the charity business. Private charities and groups do a better and more efficient job of helping the truly needy get back on their feet.

 

Why an Income Tax?

Before 1913, federal income taxes were rare and short-lived. America became the most prosperous nation on earth. The U.S. Government did not try to police the world or play “nanny” to everyone from cradle to grave. People took responsibility for themselves, their families, and their communities. That is how the founders of America thought it should be. And it worked. It can again!