With tax day upon us, North Carolinians need no reminder about how much of our hard-earned money the government is confiscating from our wallets. On one of the most stressful days of the year, we don’t need a refresher about how expensive and difficult it is to comply with our overly complex and burdensome tax code. We certainly don’t need to hear more big-government ideas that raise taxes by $2 trillion just so Washington can spend more. But President Obama is set to remind us today at a town hall discussion in Charlotte.
While I welcome the president to the Tar Heel state to have a discussion with our neighbors, I hope he’ll use this opportunity to address issues I continue to hear from working families struggling under the Obama economy. Paychecks are falling behind, prices for necessities continue to rise and health care costs are skyrocketing because of Obamacare. Instead of making things easier, the government is making it more difficult for middle-class families to make ends meet.
Look no further than our broken tax code. At nearly 74,000 pages, it stands as one of the biggest boondoggles holding our economy back. The rules are complex and the language is convoluted, forcing taxpayers and businesses to spend about 7.6 billion hours a year slogging through requirements.
In North Carolina, we won’t earn enough money to pay our combined total tax bill for the year until April 16. And for every one of our hard-earned dollars we send to Washington, our state only gets 92 cents to invest.
To make matters worse, while working families are sending part of their paychecks to Washington, President Obama’s executive amnesty plan will dole it right back out to illegal immigrants. Under the president’s amnesty, illegal immigrants would be eligible to get Earned Income Tax Credit (ETIC) for years they worked illegally in the United States.
Taking billions of dollars from law-abiding taxpayers to write checks to unlawful immigrants is an absolute disservice to our working families and hardworking immigrants who came here through the lawful process.
The bottom line is, the president’s policies neither help grow our economy nor serve the best interests of North Carolinians. We need to work towards solutions that will help improve the lives of middle-class families and provide more opportunity for job creation and economic growth. With the tax code, we have an opportunity for meaningful, bipartisan tax reform that could save the average middle-class family $1,300 per year.
It’s time to wipe the slate clean and start over with a system that is fairer, flatter and simpler for all.
