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Bob Barr shares a 67% similarity with your beliefs on Taxes and Budget
I oppose the use of public funds to prevent failing financial institutions like Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG from going bankrupt
“Actually it’s not one bailout, I think we’ve already seen about four of them and counting. The line of those that have their hand out for more bailout – the automobile industry, the insurance industry, the mass transit industry, mutual funds – the list is getting longer and longer…. And this is simply a perfect illustration of what happens when the governments gets its hands into our wallet, and takes our money and plays favorites with one industry over another, one financial intuition over another. They inject tremendous distortions into the marketplace, they prevent the marketplace from operating…. The market was already starting to self-correct itself.”
"Both the House and President George W. Bush have surrendered in the battle to protect America’s taxpayers from yet another expensive and unnecessary bailout,” says Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president. “The $300 billion measure yesterday approved by the House and endorsed by the White House won’t just pay off improvident borrowers and lenders. It will create yet another piggy-bank for activist groups at public expense. Now it is up to the Senate to say no, though that appears unlikely, given the size of the House majority and President Bush’s promise to sign the bill,”notes Barr. “The sub-prime lending crisis is largely a crisis of government,” adds Barr. “Congress and both Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush pressed banks to lend more money in poor neighborhoods to less credit-worthy borrowers. The Federal Reserve pushed down interest rates to encourage more lending. Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development subsidized home ownership. Now we are all paying the price for a boom gone bust,” says Barr."
"The problem is that what the government is doing here is that they are not solving the problem, they are simply glossing over it and their apparent long term solution is not a solution at all but to keep these [inaudible] backed up with American dollars and they have no idea what the liability on the tax payers is going to be."
"It is time to say no more. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac need to be privatized and sold off. And Congress must stop treating the federal government like a national soup kitchen for businesses in trouble," says Barr. "Even former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan has cautioned against bailouts such as the Bush Administration is now championing for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac."
I am neutral on an increase in taxes for the wealthiest Americans
"Cutting spending would allow America to implement real tax reform. The best approach would be to adopt a national sales tax, replacing the Internal Revenue Service and all federal income taxes as well as payroll taxes. The Fair Tax is an example of a well-researched alternative to the current oppressive system of taxation. Our goal should be to reduce both the tax burden on Americans and the intrusion in their lives resulting from IRS enforcement of the income tax."
"It is not enough to eliminate the income tax. We also must repeal the 16th amendment, which authorizes Congress to levy an income tax. Without doing so, there would be an ever-present danger that a future Congress would attempt to bring back the income tax on top of the Fair Tax or any other alternative to the income tax."
I support tax cuts for middle-class families
Voted YES on Tax cut package of $958 B over 10 years. Vote to pass a bill that would cut all income tax rates and make other tax cuts of $958.2 billion over 10 years. The bill would convert the five existing tax rate brackets, which range from 15 to 39.6 percent, to a system of four brackets with rates of 10 to 33 percent.
Bill sponsored by Thomas, R-CA; Bill HR 1836 ; vote number 2001-118 on May 16, 2001
Barr signed the Contract with America: The American Dream Restoration Act: A $500-per-child tax credit, begin repeal of the marriage tax penalty, and creation of American Dream Savings Accounts to provide middle-class tax relief.
Contract with America 93-CWA7 on Sep 27, 1994