By Chris Neeley
6/22/05

There's an age-old story about a young college student who kept bouncing checks. One day the student's father called and said, "Son, I need you to stop writing bad checks. It's wrong to spend money you don't have." The student replied, "But Dad, how can I be out of money? I still have checks in my check book!"

We've all the heard this story before and maybe some of us know it all too well. The student continues to spend money he doesn't have until one day his father is forced to close the account and put him on a budget. The student must either learn to live within his means or do without.

Herein lies the problem with the politicians in Raleigh. They are spending more tax money than you and I can afford to pay.

The truth is North Carolina's citizens already pay too much in taxes. We pay the highest corporate and personal income taxes in the Southeast -- 9th highest in the nation. Our combined sales tax is 12th highest in the country, our gas tax is the 5th highest nationally and our debt service has quadrupled since 1996.

Today our state faces a $1.3 billion spending deficit for the next budget cycle. And who do you think is going to be asked to pay for all this excessive spending? That's right -- you and me -- with higher taxes!

Governor Easley, the Senate and the House have offered budgets that include more than $1.7 billion in tax increases, including a continuation of the so called temporary tax, that was suppose to expire in 2003; taxes on consumer goods like cigarettes, newspapers, candy, phone, cable and satellite services, the circus.

In fact, they want to raise taxes on new babies and coffins. So they get us coming and they get us going! That's wrong.

My name is Chris Neeley, director of Americans for Prosperity Foundation of North Carolina -- and we have a plan to stop wasteful government spending, cut your taxes, fund priorities like education and roads, and prepare our state for emergencies like a hurricane or act of terrorism.

Our plan is called a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment.

A Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment is a constitutional amendment that limits the growth of government to the inflation rate plus population growth.

For more than a decade the politicians have spent, spent, and spent more, without any respect for the taxpayer behind every dollar. If only they had a human face – a family – a small business owner – a retiree – a veteran -- a young struggling worker, a single mom on the face of every dollar they spent and every tax they raised.

Sadly, the politicians do not see the face of man on the dollars that they spend. All the politicians see and hear are the special interest groups, lobbyists, unions, and bureaucratic representatives looking for the long and easy path to prosperity.

Americans for Prosperity plans to change this debate in Raleigh. Our plan is to move from a debate of how much more revenue can we find -- to how much fat can we cut from our budget, so that we can slow the rate of government growth, cut taxes and make North Carolina a strong competitor in the new global economy of the 21 st century.

It's not too late to repair our state's fiscal ailments and lift the burden of excessive government off the backs of hard working North Carolinians like you.

However, it will require a lot of hard work and a coalition of citizen leaders like you who will use their voices, drive, and passion to change the way the politicians operate in Raleigh.

Today I call on you to join Americans for Prosperity and support the Taxpayer's Bill of Rights amendment.

I also call on each of you to write letters to the editor, call your elected officials, send emails, and visit your local legislator.

Hopefully too, we can elect leaders who ask one simple question before they cast every vote: "How will this vote affect the freedom of our people?"

I think it's fair to say that every year we lose a little more freedom after each legislative session because the politicians in Raleigh do not have us in their best interest.

In fact, the politicians who make our laws and their bureaucratic soldiers who carry out them out are only making it harder for average citizens like you and me to fully enjoy the freedoms our founders fought so hard to protect.

Now don't get me wrong. There are a few courageous citizen leaders fighting to protect our freedom everyday in the General Assembly. But they are few and far between and battling an entrenched force.

The special interest groups, lobbyists, and unions are all vying for their piece of the pie. And each piece they get will cost you and me billions of hard earned tax dollars.

And the more they take and spend -- the harder we have to work to foot their bill. And the more we work -- the less time we have to spend with our families, friends and doing the things we love to do in life.

As President Bush said in his Inauguration, "In America's ideal of freedom, citizens find the dignity and security of economic independence, instead of laboring on the edge of subsistence."

I believe it's time to begin a new freedom movement in our state and nation by supporting leaders who will protect our freedom as if it was their own to lose. And by supporting ideas, like a Taxpayer's Bill of Rights, we can increase freedom for ever citizen in the years to come.

Thank you and God bless!