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Fred Thompson on Taxes and Budget
This candidate has withdrawn from the election
Thompson says, "We need to reject taxes that punish rather than reward success. Those who say they want a "more progressive" tax system should be asked one question: Are you really interested in tax rates that benefit the economy and raise revenue--or are you interested in redistributing income for political reasons?"
The Fred Factor, by Steve Gill, p.166-169 Jun 3, 2007
Taxes are necessary. But they don't make the country any better off. At best they simply move money from the private sector to the government. But taxes are also a burden on production, because they discourage people from investing & taking risks. Some economists have calculated that today each additional $1 collected by the government, by raising income-tax rates, makes the private sector as much as $2 worse off. To me this means one simple thing: tax rates should be as low as possible.
Speech to Lincoln Club Annual Dinner, Orange County CA May 4, 2007
"We need lower taxes, and we need to let taxpayers keep more of their hard-earned dollars they know best where and how to spend them."
"There've been a lot of proposals out there, the fair tax plan and some variations of that, the flat tax plan and some variations of that -- all have theirs advantages and all have their disadvantages. It's clear that no one side is going to be able to push over all the other sides to get what they consider to be their perfect plan implemented. We're going to have to come together with a combination of things, I think, at the same time and the end result has got to be something that's much simpler and less complicated and is not disadvantageous in the international markets. Our companies are (dropped word) competitively with foreign companies because our tax code is fixed the way it is. We're disadvantaged in the international marketplace."
Voted YES on balanced-budget amendment
S. J. Res. 1; Bill S. J. Res. 1 ; vote number 1997-24 on Mar 4, 1997
Repeatedly voted for repeal of "death tax"
Voted YES on eliminating marriage penalty
Bill HR.4810 ; vote number 2000-215 on Jul 18, 2000
Generally speaking, lower taxes and lower tax rates grow the economy. It's been proven in the '20s, it was proven during the Kennedy administration, proven during the Reagan administration, and again during this administration. I would apply that same principle to the AMT. It ought to be phased out. It think the responsible thing to do, though, until we get a handle on our mandatory spending side of the ledger is to index it for inflation and fix it for another year while we look at the budget in total.
"The Club for Growth is committed to lower taxes-especially lower tax rates- across the board. Lower taxes on work, savings, and investments lead to greater levels of these activities, thus encouraging greater economic growth. Over his eight years in the Senate, Fred Thompson generally supported broad-based tax cuts while opposing tax increases. These include: Voted for the 2001 Bush tax cuts Voted for repeal of the Death Tax Voted for capital gains tax cuts