August 16, 2006

Where Congress Fumbles, the States Recover

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.” – 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution

The inability and unwillingness of Congress this year to cut federal spending, restructure Social Security, eliminate the estate tax and protect our borders has been well documented. If the Republicans lose seats this November in one or both chambers, they will have their self-imposed legislative impotence to blame. Fortunately, many of the state legislatures realize that the burdens imposed on Americans by illegal aliens, high tax rates and unchecked spending will not go away merely because Congress ignores these issues. Many states are exercising their 10th Amendment rights and offering their own bold solutions.

At the federal level, Congress has never met a taxpayer’s dollar it didn’t want to spend. The federal budget watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste identified nearly 10,000 pork barrel earmarks in the 11 Fiscal Year 2006 appropriations bills. The total cost of these earmarks is a record $29 billion, a 6.2 percent increase over earmark spending in 2005. 

Meanwhile, mandatory spending on entitlement programs continues to soar. Mandatory entitlement spending on programs such as Social Security and Medicare comprised 54 percent of the federal budget in 2005, and is expected to reach 62 percent by 2015.  Congress extended to 2010 the 15 percent rates on capital gains and dividend income, but failed to repeal the estate tax and the alternative minimum tax.

But at the state level, many legislatures are listening to their citizens who are demanding an end to irresponsible spending and the rising tax rates to pay for it. Citizens in at least five states (Montana, Nebraska, Maine, Nevada and Oregon) have the opportunity this November to enact taxpayer protection amendments to their state constitutions. Modeled after Colorado’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights Amendment, the ballot initiatives in these states will limit state spending growth to a formula based on the inflation rate plus population growth. Further, most require approval from a majority of both the state legislature and the state’s citizens to increase spending or tax rates.

Currently, 28 states have tax and expenditure limits, and these states are taking the fiscally responsible steps to lock changes in spending and tax law into their constitutions. They are sending the message that future generations won’t be saddled with high tax rates and debt due to the careless spending decisions of today.

In Georgia, state House leaders recently proposed changes to the tax code that could provide its citizens much needed tax relief and a tax code fairer for everyone.

One proposal from Representative Steve Davis is the Georgia Fair Tax Act. The Georgia Fair Tax will eliminate all personal and corporate income taxes and replace them with a sales tax. Like the Fair Tax introduced in Congress, under the Georgia Fair Tax individuals will determine the amount of taxes they pay based on how much they spend. Business costs will also drop drastically, reducing the cost of goods and encouraging other businesses to relocate to Georgia.

At the federal level, the Senate this year failed to pass the common sense House immigration bill. Instead, the Senate passed their own bill that would give amnesty to the millions of illegal aliens within our borders and put them on the fast track to citizenship. As the late House Speaker Tip O’Neil once famously remarked, “All politics is local.” Perhaps no issue is as local and visible this year than the burden placed on states and local communities by illegal aliens, and the states are taking action.

For example, in 2004 Arizonans passed Proposition 200, the Arizona Taxpayer Citizen Protection Act, requiring identification to vote and denying some government benefits to illegal aliens. A July 2006 Wall Street Journal report found that this year over 500 pieces of legislation aimed at curbing illegal immigration have been introduced in state legislatures.

In April 2006, Georgia Governor Sonny Perdue signed the Georgia Security and Immigration Compliance Act. This bill requires citizenship verification for those receiving state benefits, cracks down on businesses employing illegal aliens and helps local law enforcement agencies work more closely with federal agencies to enforce immigration laws. A similar bill was passed in Colorado this year after Governor Bill Owens called a special session to address the rapidly escalating burdens on state coffers, law enforcement and local communities caused by illegal aliens.

Most of our nations’ founders wisely envisioned a limited role for the federal government over our lives. However, Congress too often picks and chooses when it will exceed the limits imposed by our founders, as we see in tax and spending legislation, and when it will abdicate its constitutional duties to protect the national defense, as we saw this year in the Senate immigration bill.

The Constitution’s 10th Amendment provides states the ability to check the irresponsible or impotent activities of Congress. Given the reluctance in Congress to fix our biggest problems or even admit some problems exist, our right as citizens to shape and influence legislation in our 50 statehouses is one we must all exercise.