So here’s my balanced budget plan:
— 1. Don’t cut Social Security.
— 2. Don’t cut Medicare.
— 3. Don’t cut defense.
— 4. Don’t cut domestic discretionary spending.
— 5. Eliminate the income tax.
— 6. Eliminate the payroll tax.
— 7. Institute a 20 percent Value Added Tax.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, 1-4 will require revenue as a percent of GDP to steadily rise over the next seventy years. The CBO doesn’t score tax policy, and the Joint Committee on Taxation is too busy to do a custom score of my innovative tax plan. Therefore, I stipulate that 5-7 should be scored as raising sufficient revenue. Ergo:
— 8. The budget is balanced
— 9. Debt as a percent of GDP steadily declines over time, reaching de facto zero.
So that’s my plan to eliminate the national debt. And I don’t shy away from the fact that some sacrifice would be involved for America’s seniors, since switching from income/payroll taxes to consumption taxes would mean old folks need to pay more.
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