ACP Platform Principles Summary

 

These are in no order of importance please check out the full platform plank for full details if more details are listed in following sections.

 

 

Tax Reform- Fairer, Easier, Efficient

 

The tax system in America has become too complicated. The Income Tax Code is over 70,000 pages long and just to comply with the income tax system Americans spend between over 400 billion dollars a year. That is money that is leaving the economy. Our tax system has crippled our economy. There is a better way for our tax system, one that is fair and effective.

 

The ACP supports having the taxation system of the United States reformed to a consumption sales tax system from a progressive tax system.

 

  1. The ACP supports enacting The FairTax Act (HR 25, S 1025) into effect.

 

  1. The ACP supports the repealing of the Sixteenth Amendment.

 

The Fair Tax:

  • Enables workers to keep their entire paychecks
  • Enables retirees to keep their entire pensions
  • Refunds in advance the tax on purchases of basic necessities
  • Allows American products to compete fairly
  • Brings transparency and accountability to tax policy
  • Ensures Social Security and Medicare funding
  • Closes all loopholes and brings fairness to taxation
  • Abolishes the IRS
  • The Fair Tax will replace dollar for dollar the current revenues confiscated by the IRS.

Other taxes abolished by the Fair Tax:

    1. Capital gains tax
    2. Alternative Minimum tax
    3. Corporate and Payroll tax
    4. Self Employment tax

Taxpayers' Bill of Rights:

Principle 1: A TABOR Should Restrict Spending Growth, Not Revenues. High tax rates devastate economies. Yet a law simply requiring low tax revenues without any spending controls is not sustainable because unrestrained spending would likely create unallowably large budget deficits until taxes would need to be raised. The simple truth is that federal spending determines the required level of taxes. Therefore, a law limiting federal spending is the most effective way to guarantee long-term tax relief.

Principle 2: TABOR Spending Limits should be enforced by a Two-thirds Supermajority and by Sequestration. TABOR spending limits would be enforced during the budget resolution vote, as well as the vote on any discretionary appropriations bill or entitlement reform that would put total spending above the TABOR cap. (A projection of total mandatory outlays would need to be combined with the discretionary spending bills to arrive at the spending total.) Legislation violating TABOR would require a two-thirds supermajority.

Principle 3: Congress Should Be Required to Budget for Emergencies. No spending restraint is legislatively foolproof, so there must remain a political stigma attached to bypassing the spending limits. However, if two-thirds of Congress had to override TABOR every time there was a small emergency somewhere in America, these overrides would become routine and less controversial. Requiring Congress to reserve room in the budget for the predictable emergencies would keep all but the most catastrophic emergencies from requiring TABOR overrides.

Principle 4: States Should Be Protected from New Unfunded Mandates. In a budget-cutting environment, lawmakers may be tempted to find savings by passing new unfunded mandates onto states. This is counter to TABOR's goal of reducing the cost of government. If Congress passes a new unfunded mandate, the TABOR cap should be reduced by the amount of federal money saved, as determined by the Congressional Budget Office.

Principle 5: Budget Surpluses Should Be Split Between Tax Rebates and Debt Reduction. The 1998-2001 budget surpluses induced a massive spending spree because these surpluses were portrayed as "free money" sitting in a pile waiting to be used. If TABOR successfully restrains spending and creates budget surpluses, lawmakers will surely be tempted to override TABOR and spend more on popular programs. What if budget surpluses were automatically split between tax rebates and debt relief? Instead of spending "free money," lawmakers would be cutting the tax rebates to taxpayers as well as raiding a debt relief fund designed to reduce the debt burden passed onto future generations.

Principle 6: TABOR Should Be a Statute, Not a Constitutional Amendment. Attempting to amend the U.S. Constitution would probably be a futile quest, which leaves reform by statute as the best option.

Repeal of 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts:

The ACP is for repealing these tax cuts for the wealthiest one percent of Americans who have had the more benefit than anyone else.

 

1.      Fifty percent of the money gained from the Bush tax cuts will go to a massive program to develop and implement alternative energy on a national level; this money will go to this cause every year.

2.      Twenty five percent will go paying down the debt every year.

 

3.      Twelve and half percent will go to Education every year.

 

4.      Twelve and a half percent will go to establishing and implementing our National Border Security Force.

 

Tax Breaks for Volunteers:


1. The ACP supports federal tax breaks for volunteer EMS, firefighters and other emergency medical personnel, Civil Defense Volunteers. These will be known as Level 1 volunteers for the purpose of this bill.

2. The ACP supports tax breaks for English as Second Language teachers, Literacy Volunteers, Mentor Volunteers, Volunteer Drug Counselors, and Gang Prevention Volunteers. These will be known as Level 2 volunteers for the purpose of this bill.