Deconstructing Rep. Barbara Cubin

In which I try to get to the bottom of Barbara’s blather in her latest e-newsletter. Read on...

Simple Answers to a Taxing Problem
By Barbara Cubin

President Ronald Reagan once described the American taxpayer as someone who works for the federal government but doesn't have to take the civil service examination. Nothing reminds us of that message quite like the regrettable arrival of tax day on April 15th.
TRANSLATION: American taxpayers good (especially when they vote for Republicans); federal gubment bad.
Like President Reagan, I recognize hard-working American families are taxed too much. In 2005, the federal government took a staggering $2.4 trillion out of the pockets of the American people. Unfortunately, Washington Democrats do not seem to feel this is enough.
TRANSLATION: Budget cutting is a noble thing (as long as it doesn’t apply to the Pentagon).
Unlike Democrats, I support our troops. Two weeks ago, House Democrats approved the largest ever federal budget. Their budget will terminate the Republican tax cuts passed in 2001 and 2003, reinstate the marriage penalty tax and the ‘death tax,’ reduce the child tax credit by half, and eliminate the state sales tax deductibility measure I authored.
TRANSLATION: House Democrats are tofu-eating surrender monkeys. They are undermining our troops by not supporting permanent tax cuts for the richest Americans.
Ultimately, this budget will raise taxes on 200,000 of Wyoming’s hard working taxpayers by an average of $3,188 annually. This is a perfectly tangible example of Washington’s fiscal policy run completely amok.
TRANSLATION: Ten of those hard-working taxpayers are Republican gazillionaires who have fled the coasts to live in the tax-free Nirvana of Wyoming USA. Their taxes will really rise, as Dems will end their free ride, causing them to send me less money. The other 199,990 Wyoming taxpayers will have their taxes rise by $1.57. Are you going to sit by and let this happen? Are you?
It is far past time my colleagues recognize they have been elected to serve as stewards of America’s tax dollars. In 34 of the past 38 years the federal government has run a deficit, meaning it spent more money than it collected in taxes. This happened with every combination of Republicans and Democrats controlling the White House and Congress. Deficit spending defies fiscal credibility, and it has to stop. Restoring fiscal sanity to Washington will require Congress to make meaningful and substantive changes to the way we handle taxpayer dollars. But these changes do not have to be complicated.
TRANSLATION: War? What war?
We can start by overhauling and simplifying the tax code, something I have long supported. There is something fundamentally wrong when we have a tax code that is seven times longer than the Bible. Tax reform will start by giving Americans a simple, fair tax code they can understand. As Americans struggle to comprehend our current tax code, they have a right to expect the government to balance the budget without having their taxes raised. American families know how to tighten their belts to stick to a budget, and it’s high time the federal government adhere to the same sensible standards.
TRANSLATION: Americans are noble creatures who always balance their household budgets unless there’s a sale on RVs or swimming pools or plasma TVs and then they bring out the plastic and spend spend spend. Remember: everyone must sacrifice in wartime.
I recently joined 160 of my House colleagues in voting for a federal budget plan that reaches balance in 2012 without raising taxes, while ending Washington’s raid on Social Security and curbing wasteful spending. That is the kind of fiscal budgeting all elected officials should support. You can’t say you’re fighting for taxpayers but in favor of higher taxes. The numbers don’t add up. It is high time taxpayers call on their leaders to remember tax dollars belong to the taxpayers, not the government. The question now is, how many more April 15th’s will roll by before opponents of sensible tax reform get the message?
TRANSLATION: Like Saint Reagan, who ran up one of the biggest deficits in U.S. history in single-handedly defeating the Evil Empire, we shall continue to support a sensible budget that includes $500 billion a year so the Pentagon can build more nuclear subs to patrol the Euphrates and supersonic stealth fighters that can go door-to-door in Ramadi looking for insurgents. And don’t you dare rescind those tax cuts to the richest Americans! Don’t YOU want to be rich some day, lording it over your neighbors in your gold-plated 100,000-square-foot mansion on the hill? Well, don’t you?