All We Want for Christmas.
A wish list for Santa, since Uncle Sam forgot.

By Eric V. Schlecht, Director of Congressional Relations, National Taxpayers Union
December 20, 2001, 8:00 a.m.

After talking to a lot of anxious adults, the National Taxpayers Union has sent a taxpayer "wish list" to the North Pole (with carbon copies to the White House and Congress) in hopes that the spirit of St. Nick could prevail upon Uncle Sam to help taxpayers. Maybe elected officials should include these items in their New Year's Resolutions too.

Here, dear Santa, is all we taxpayers want for Christmas:

Tax Reform. Our current Tax Code is a leviathan of loopholes, complexities, and inequities that only a tax lawyer could love. How about a nice flat tax? Or, maybe a retail sales tax? Just be sure it's a consumption-based tax that doesn't punish us for working hard.

Tax Cuts. While the I.O.U.'s for tax cuts the government gave us this year were a nice thought, what good is a present you can't use for several years? A permanent reduction in the personal and corporate income and capital-gains taxes, along with repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax and Death Tax, would be great starts.

Real "Social Security." The sooner we make the move toward personally-controlled retirement accounts, the sooner our children's future will be secure, and the better we'll sleep. After all, if private choice is good enough for countries like South Korea and Panama, shouldn't it be good enough for America?

School Vouchers. About 40% of the children of congressmen and 49% of Senators' children go to private schools. Can you help tax-strapped parents who don't make a congressional salary provide the same quality education for their kids?

Fiscal Responsibility. Could you please ask Congress to quit spending so much of our money? Total federal outlays in 1995 were $1.51 trillion. In 2001 they are scheduled to be $1.86 trillion. That is an increase of 22%. Average inflation during that period was only 2.5% per year. On their way out of town in the year 2000, lawmakers voted to bust the budget caps by a whopping $52 billion over the previous year's caps and $26 billion over the inflation adjustment.

Protect the Internet. Adding more taxes on the Internet would be complicated, unfair, and destructive for our ailing economy. The last thing government should do is kill the goose that might lay the golden egg — one that feeds a recovery. The moratorium on discriminatory Internet taxes should be made permanent, and online shopping — which is already burdened by telephone and shipping taxes — shouldn't be slapped with more sales taxes.

Tax Limitation Amendment (TLA) and Balanced Budget Amendment (BBA). Even with the recent tax cut, taxes are at record levels and Congress has already spent $105 billion more this year than last — leading to what the Congressional Budget Office predicts will be future deficits. If you gave us Constitutional protections that made it harder to vote for higher taxes and debt, those budget-busting bullies in Congress couldn't take and spend as much of our money.

Expose Hidden Taxes. Every year the government takes at least $657.5 billion in hidden taxes — $2,462 per person. Gas taxes, telecommunication taxes, payroll taxes, travel taxes, and utility taxes — to name just a few — are all collected while we're not looking. We deserve to be told when we're being taxed and by how much.

Medical Savings Accounts (MSAs). Every year, health-care costs continue to rise as Congress tries to drag us closer toward the failed Canadian health-care system. We thought we made it pretty clear back in 1993 that we knew better than to follow that garden path. MSAs would give us personal control over how we spend our health-care dollars, creating competition among providers that could drive costs down.

For years, elected officials have spoiled special interests rotten with our tax dollars. It's about time those of us who've been good for goodness sake to get our rewards.