Politics & Government

Letter: Congressional Candidate Larsen Discusses Taxes, Economy

David Larsen, Congressional candidate for New Jersey's 7th District, shares his thoughts on taxes and their impact on job creation and economic growth.

Rising gas prices, wasteful government spending, Obama Care, now combined with our President’s rhetoric around raising taxes on investors and job creators, are all threatening to undermine our economic recovery. Rather than raising taxes, we should be lowering all tax rates, resulting in everyone paying into the system. This approach will not only bring fairness and stability to our tax code, but it will stimulate economic growth and job creation for millions of Americans.

As we approach Tax Day, I believe there is something inherently unfair about a tax system that picks winners and losers. A core principle of conservatism is the idea that every citizen should be treated equally before the law, without regard to one’s station in society.  Justice is supposed to wear a blindfold, meting out justice without regard to who is wealthy or poor, what one does for a living, who one’s friends are, or what family you are from.

A tax system which is flatter and fairer would be a tax applied equally to all without regard to the details of people’s lives. But consider how far from this principle our tax code has become. It is now the polar opposite: Taxes are computed based on your wealth, how you earn it, what you invest in, and your marital status. Subsidies abound depending on age, sex, ethnicity, economic activity and who your lobbyist is. 

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The reality is Americans are over-taxed. No better illustration of how much Americans’ tax burden has skyrocketed than the rise of the two income-earner family. Only 40 years ago, most families in the middle class were able to get by on one income. In today’s economy, many couples must both work to just meet their everyday expenses and tax liabilities. Compounding that problem, America today has the dubious distinction of having the highest corporate tax rate in the world. 

As a businessman for over 35 years, I believe it’s time for deregulation and lower tax rates. This will create the conditions necessary for job creation. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening, as our sitting Representative, Leonard Lance, voted to raise the debt ceiling $2.1 trillion, in addition to voting to fund Obama Care to the tune of $105 billion.

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My solution is for Congress to institute bold tax reform. America needs to institute a flatter income tax, and levy taxes in a fairer manner: No more social engineering, and no more trying to mold economic behavior or subsidize certain markets at the expense of consumers. The Estate tax should be abolished as a matter of conservative principle: Government does not have the right to tax wealth it already taxed, and we should have a tax system that encourages saving and parents helping their children get a good start in life. Our corporate income tax should be the lowest in the world, not the highest. Corporations do not pay taxes, they pass them on to consumers to pay.

Taxes on energy production need to be lowered, or eliminated. A re-energized economy that has high rates of job creation needs cheap energy. Cheap energy makes our manufacturing competitive. It lessens the cost of producing food and transporting goods to market. Cheap energy means consumers have more money in their pockets to spend, spurring economic activity and job growth. 

During the 2010 Congressional race, Representative Lance identified himself as the “Moderate incumbent.” Today, as he attempts to move to the right, he is now positioning himself as a “Principled and Conservative” Republican. However, Representative Lance voted for Cap & Trade, a horrendously large carbon tax scheme that was supported by most Liberals. This scheme is now being implemented by the Obama EPA, which is imposing carbon dioxide emission regulations designed to shut down coal powered power plants. This will result in electricity rates “necessarily skyrocketing,” in the words of President Obama. Representative Lance also believes that America’s energy use must be curbed by making it more expensive as reflected in his recent vote with Obama to keep the moratorium on drilling for oil and gas.

Flatter, fairer, and less taxation is the path to restoring the American Dream.

David Larsen

Congressional Candidate

District 7, New Jersey


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