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U.S. Representative Todd Rokita. Your Freedom, Your Family, Your Future. Imagine A Company. ... With NEGATIVE cash flow for the past 9 years – and the majority of the last 50 before that ...NEGATIVE Net Worth for as long as anyone can remember
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U.S. Representative Todd Rokita Your Freedom, Your Family, Your Future
Imagine A Company • ... With NEGATIVE cash flow for the past 9 years – and the majority of the last 50 before that • ...NEGATIVE Net Worth for as long as anyone can remember • ... Needs 20 years of income to pay off its existing debts • Would You Invest?
“Debt Day” Source: Office of Management and Budget, President’s Budget FY 2012 All spending after July 27 of this year is borrowed spending.
The Federal Government is Borrowing More Than 42 Cents of Every Dollar It Spends Source: Office of Management and Budget, President’s Budget FY 2012
We’ve borrowed and have held debt in the past…..why is it a problem now???
Source: Congressional Budget Office, Office of Management and Budget
With the interest we pay to China on our debt, China can afford to buy 3 new Joint Strike Fighters every week – with $50 million/week left over. Source: U.S. Department of Treasury, Government Accountability Office
Source: Congressional Budget Office, Office of Management and Budget
The Cost of Waiting – The Fiscal Gap Unfunded Promises in Trillions of Dollars
FALSE SOLUTIONS1.) Taxing the Rich2.) Cutting the Stuff we don’t like3.) Cut Defense
THE PROBLEM OF JUST TAXING THE RICH • 1.)The top 1% of taxpayers, those with salaries, dividends, and capital gains roughly at $380,000-----paid 38% of taxes. • 2.)Suppose you tax all the billionaires and millionaires at 100%...you confiscate all their taxable income….even this only yields about 900 Billion, which is a drop in a bucket amid a 4 trillion dollar budget, and a 1.65 trillion deficit. • 3.)The top 10%, or everyone with income over $114,000, including joint filers, already pay 69% of all total income taxes. • The reality is that in the absence of entitlement reform, WASHINGTON will need to tax the MIDDLE CLASS even more…because that’s where the big money is. • And even if the middle tax is taxed more, it still won't pay the debts due to be incurred in the future under current spending plans.
FALSE SOLUTION #1 Source: Office of Management and Budget Historic Tables, Congressional Budget Office; projections based on the CBO’s Alternative Fiscal Scenario.
Solutions that Work • Medicare: • Transfer from a defined benefit, fee-for-service structure to a defined contribution structure, and require an aggressive means test. It offers: • CHOICE • COMPETITION • PATIENT CONTROL • FREE MARKET PRINCIPLES • LOWER COSTS • NO CHANGES FOR CURRENT BENEFICIARIES • Social Security: • Index the normal age retirement (NRA) to longevity standards, and require an aggressive means test. It offers: • COMMON SENSE APPROACH • GRADUAL INCREASE • SOLVE LONG TERM SHORTFALL
More Solutions that Work Another Solution: Grow The Economy How do we do this? 1.) Lower Taxes 2.) Deregulate Business 3.) More Domestic energy production Results: HIGHER PERCENTAGE OF GDP GROWTH Conclusion: --Growing our economy beyond the average rate, combined with other reforms, would reduce our debt faster. --The best way to do this is by: 1.) Lowering taxes and simplifying the tax code 2.) Removing job killing regulations and overzealous bureaucracies from the private, productive sector of our economy 3.) Producing more domestic energy