Cut to the Chase: Spending Restraint, Not Tax Increases

SPENDING RESTRAINT, NOT TAX INCREASES

By Garrett Hawkins

On cold winter mornings it is tempting to press the snooze button on the alarm clock and stay in bed a few extra minutes. I am guilty of it every now and then. As a nation, though, we have not only hit the snooze button on our fiscal alarm in recent years, but we have covered our ears and ignored the blaring sound. It is time to wake up.

A few weeks ago our national debt surpassed $14 trillion (14 followed by 12 zeros), an unfathomable amount of money in my mind. Divided, it amounts to $45,474 of debt per American citizen or $127,543 per taxpayer according to USDebtClock.org.

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the federal agency charged with providing economic data to lawmakers, projects our government will run a deficit of close to $1.5 trillion for 2011 if current laws remain unchanged. We accrued deficits of $1.4 trillion in 2009 and $1.3 trillion in 2010.

It is not uncommon for our federal government to spend more than it takes in on an annual basis. We were in the red in all but four of the last 30 years at the end of a fiscal year. The rate our nation has racked up debt in recent years is alarming. The CBO director recently testified before the U.S. Senate Budget Committee warning policymakers they will have to cut spending, raise revenues (taxes) or pursue a combination of the two to “prevent debt from becoming unsupportable.”

During his annual meeting address, American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) President Bob Stallman did not sugarcoat our nation’s fiscal woes and reminded farmers and ranchers of Farm Bureau’s responsibility and obligation to weigh in and help find solutions.

Two years ago a task force of Farm Bureau leaders from across the country spent months studying the federal budget deficit and debt, and developed recommendations for consideration by the organization’s members.

At the AFBF annual meeting last month, voting delegates reaffirmed policy stating the federal budget deficit should be reduced each year, reaching full balance and debt reduction by 2019. They also reaffirmed their belief that a balanced budget should be accomplished through spending restraint rather than tax increases.

In Washington, D.C. the president and congressional leaders on both sides of the aisle are signaling that fiscal order is needed. If we all agree current deficit and debt levels are a threat to our country’s security and economic prosperity, then we must stop ignoring the fiscal alarm ringing in our ears and wake up to the reality that tough decisions must be made.

Budget cuts will be painful, but it will pale to the pain felt by future generations if our fiscal mess is left to them.

(Garrett Hawkins, of Jefferson City, Mo., is director of national legislative programs for Missouri Farm Bureau, the state’s largest farm organization.)