08 Sep 1998 Look Past the Scandals: Cut Taxes Now!

Record tax surpluses and record tax collection rates do not mix. Congress needs to consider bold ideas for disbursing the $1.6 trillion budget surplus expected over the next decade. Congress can make modest steps toward tax relief, but it should give it back to the American people, who will use it for education, for saving, for investing and for building a better life for themselves and their families.

Congress can use the opportunity this tax surplus provides to reform our archaic and unfair tax code. Congress should scrap unfair taxes like the marriage tax and the death tax, and lessen the burdens on government by allowing people to put their money into private retirement savings plans of their own choosing rather than shoring up an ailing Social Security bureaucracy. But the bottom line is that they should return this money to its rightful owner — the American people — to let them spend their money that they have worked so hard in any way they want.

As Congress resumes its business, there will be many distractions. Congress should look past the scandals and the hype that dominates Beltway gossip and dive into the important business at hand. Tax relief and tax reform are within reach, and this golden opportunity should not be squandered.