December 7th, 1997
WASHINGTON, DC – Looking at the legislation sponsored and cosponsored by Members of Congress for the first half of 1997, the National Taxpayers Union has found that US Representative Ron Paul (R-Surfside, Texas) is one of the taxpayers’ top watchdogs.
According to information available at the NTU website, the legislation sponsored and cosponsored by Representative Paul represents no increases in government spending, and actually includes more than $17 billion in spending cuts. The only other Member of Congress who refused to sponsor or cosponsor any legislation which increases spending is Representative Ed Royce (R-California).
“The American people are taxed way too much, which hurts them and the economy. But they are also hurt by how much money the federal government spends; I refuse to take part in doing further damage to the American taxpayer and the economy,” said Paul. “The federal government spends too much money and is involved in activities which are simply not allowed by our Constitution. Spending by the federal government must be reduced to the constitutional, the lawful, levels.”
Paul said that while he will always vote to cut taxes, the issue of spending must be addressed soon.
“When government takes so much money out of the economy, the system is threatened and many innocent citizens suffer from bureaucrats determining the allocation of resources instead of individuals. The government’s bureaucrats in Washington may think they know best how to spend other people’s money, but experience shows otherwise,” said Paul, citing the eventual collapse of centrally-controlled economies. “The American people work through at least June to pay for the costs of federal spending, mandates and inflation. That’s immoral.”
Paul pledged to continue to uphold his oath of office by determining his support for legislation based on its constitutionality.
“Some people say Congress should vote for legislation based on how many votes it will buy them in the next election. But when I took my Oath of Office, I swore to follow the Constitution, not to use the taxpayers’ money to subsidize special interests.”
According to the NTU, a report will be issued in early 1998 detailing the amount of spending/cuts each Member of Congress actually voted for during 1997.
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December 5th, 1997
WASHINGTON, DC – Calling the recently announced “bailout” of South Korea – the largest bail-out ever – an “irresponsible action that hurts middle-class American taxpayers to the benefit of Wall Street bankers and investors,” US Representative Ron Paul (R-Surfside, Texas) said this latest action only reaffirms his call to end the taxpayer subsidization of foreign economies and domestic brokers.
It was announced this week that the South Korean economy would be “bailed out” with $55 billion in international aid, much of which coming directly or indirectly from US taxpayers. The sources will come from the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, as well as monies from the United States and other nations.
“The policy of using taxpayer-money to bailout foreign economies is reckless,” said Paul. “I have long maintained that this policy needlessly puts taxpayers at risk of default from nations which have proven they cannot manage their own affairs. Further, it weakens the US economy by devaluing the dollar and stimulating inflation. But this policy does not even do what the politicians rhetoric claims it does; the American people are sold this bag of tricks on the basis that it is ‘humanitarian’ and helps the people of the recipient nation. In reality, the money never helps those people and serves only to insulate the New York bankers from their bad investments in unstable regions. The Wall Street investors take a risk when they put capital in unstable regions; they deserve to reap the rewards of those risks when things go well, but the taxpayer should not be called upon to cover investors losses when the gamble goes sour.”
Paul added that these bailouts often go to prop-up “corrupt governments and their business cronies.”
“One need look no further than Indonesia and its horrific anti-human-rights record, yet the taxpayers of the United States are forced to continue footing the bill for bailing out that most corrupt of nations. In the South Korean case, the South Korean government forced that nation’s banks to give risky loans to favored national industries over the banks objections. While this scheme may have appealed to the command-economists’ national pride, it has resulted in the toppling of their economy. The American taxpayer simply bears no responsibility for putting right the stupid, anti-free-market decisions of foreign governments.”
Paul said that besides being bad free-market economics, the bailout runs contrary to the will of the American public, whose money is used in these “schemes.”
“With the exception of the big bankers, I never hear from anyone who wants to sacrifice taxpayer dollars to go over there to bail some country out. This is not how the American people want their tax dollars used.”
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December 5th, 1997
US Representative Ron Paul hosts town hall meeting. Open-to-all event will place tax-issues in top focus
US Representative Ron Paul will host a special town hall meeting on Saturday, Dec. 6. The meeting will be held at 10 am to at the Victoria Electric Co-Op, 102 S. Ben Jordan in Victoria, Texas.
The meeting will focus on the issues surrounding the national debate over the income tax, the Internal Revenue Service and the possible alternatives to the current system.
The public is encouraged to attend this important Town Hall meeting to let their views be heard.
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