Date: 06/07/2011

Transcript

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Judge Napolitano: Here now Texas Republican Congressman and Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul. Congressman Paul, it’s always a pleasure, welcome back to Freedom Watch.

Ron Paul: Thank you Judge.

Judge Napolitano: Congressman, with unemployment, the highest it’s been since the great depression, is the president losing all credibility as he continues to attempt to engage and the central planning of the economy.

Ron Paul: Absolutely, although he doesn’t get all the blame because it took a lot of years and the people in Congress and the previous presidencies, they all contributed to it by endorsing a system of central economic planning through the Federal Reserve. So yes, it’s a failed system, just as Mises predicted socialism would fail and the soviet system, the Austrian economists have predicted that Fiat money and the endless spending it will fail and it is failing and that’s why just changing advisors won’t matter, if you don’t change policy significantly so, we have to give up on central economic planning through the manipulation of money and credit.

Judge Napolitano: You have spent your entire career educating America on the values of the free market and the detriments to all of us, present and future of central planning. What is the best argument for Ron Paul to be the Republican nominee for president of the United States against the sitting incumbent Barrack Obama.

Ron Paul: Well, I would say that the other candidates talk in some ways similar to what I’m saying, but I think it’s credibility and I think it’s the fact that I have rejected the status quo for a long time and therefore I have the credibility of saying what we need to do is change things and like you said in your introduction, I mean I’m on record for getting rid of the Fed, getting rid of central economic planning, getting rid of the income tax and repeal the 16th Amendment, but changed the policy as well. Others are hinting and I think this is good and I’m very pleased with it, and we’re getting better votes in the Congress today also but I just think the other candidates pretty much are part of the status quo with a leaning now in the Republican Primary at least toward less government.

At least they state that, the big problem is, is over the years we’ve heard that so many times and then we finally get the Republicans in charge and they act like Democrats. So that is what the real challenge is and hope I fill the bill where people can believe exactly what I’m saying and I would do exactly as I have promised.

Judge Napolitano: I have the same view about the IRS as do you, I have the same view about the income tax as do you and I expect most people watching us now feel similarly. But the question that comes to mind is, how would the government run, how would it operate if there were no income taxes to pay for it?

Ron Paul: Well that’s always the question, we might look at our history, I think there is a good many years we didn’t have an income tax other than for a brief period under Lincoln, we didn’t have an income tax until 1914, and we did quite well. But the question isn’t so much how you do it, it’s how much do you want to pay for? If you want a welfare system, if you want the entitlement system to continue, if you want corporate welfare, the military industrial complex and foreign adventurism and policing the world, you can’t do it, not only do you need the income tax, you need to borrow, you need to print the money, so it’s an attitude about government and I think the most important question that we have to ask, is what should the role of government be?

And I believe the founders asked that question, they didn’t like the role of the King and they changed it and tried to give us a document, they made an effort to try to restrain us from going back to these old habits again and that’s the question we have to answer, if we had the proper role of government, believe me, if we just basically follow the constitution, we wouldn’t even have to have an income tax. We would live within our means and we wouldn’t be able to print money and we wouldn’t be able to borrow like we do.

Judge Napolitano: Are you surprised that you are more popular on college campuses today then president Obama is?

Ron Paul: Well I didn’t know that was the case but it would make me feel good because I know what they respond to and they respond to this message that you and I have been talking about and I would say that should make us all feel good because I know my personal limitations, but I think everybody knows where I stand and if there is the popularity that you say, I would say it’s great that the philosophy of liberty is gaining is gaining in popularity.

Judge Napolitano: I have to tell you another unusual place where the popularity of liberty is gaining, you are the leading candidate for the presidency amongst bartenders and waiters and waitresses in restaurants and pubs around the country, why is that so Congressman Paul?

Ron Paul: Well I don’t know because I don’t frequent the bars very often, I have a glass of wine at dinner time but I don’t go to the bars, but I know exactly why and that is that I have one little bill, a token effort since you know we can’t get rid of the IRS tomorrow, but I thought, why don’t we get rid of all taxes on tips, wouldn’t that be magnificent? Think of many kids and young people have worked their way through college. So we say “We as Conservatives and Libertarians, we don’t want everybody to be getting free loans and grants from the government, so some of them, many of them will go out and work and then they make small amounts and then we hound them to death, so that we make sure we collect taxes on their tips, so I tell you what, it is very popular, maybe they could take care of themselves if we would get off their backs and let them keep the money they’ve earned.

Judge Napolitano: Your creativity knows no end Congressman Paul, thanks for joining us, that was a pleasure to have you.

Ron Paul: Thank you Judge.

Date: 03/02/2011

Paying for Tax Cuts: Whose Money is it?

by Ron Paul

George Orwell warned us about the use of meaningless words in politics — words that are endlessly repeated by sloganeering politicians until they have no meaning at all. Meaningless words certainly were on display last week during congressional debate over the latest tax bill. Over and over again we heard trite, empty phrases like “tax cuts for the wealthiest 2%”, “tax giveaways”, “tax earmarks”, and “borrowing money to give to millionaires.” Time and time again the same falsehoods were presented as fact and reported as such by our credulous media.

But all of these cliches about taxes are based on the presumption that government has a right to all your income, so government gives you something when it allows you to keep a portion of that income. To this mindset, tax cuts represent a cost to government. It’s argued that money that really ought to go to the most noble of purposes — wealth redistribution via taxation — is being kept by greedy people and corporations who just don’t want to pay their fair share.

Far too many Americans truly believe that tax cuts represent a government giveaway, indistinguishable from an outright subsidy or entitlement payment. To combat this mindset we need to be clear with our language. A subsidy, properly understood, occurs when government takes tax dollars and gives them to favored individuals, companies or industry. A tax cut by contrast simply means government takes less from an individual, company or industry. When government takes less from you, it has not given you anything. It merely has harmed you less. This is the critical distinction that has been lost in the endless tired debate about tax policy.

Of course, the bill passed last week did contain some actual spending, mostly in the form of an extension of unemployment benefits for another 13 months. The total spending in the bill amounted to about $60 billion, but the tax savings in the bill, meaning the amount of money that will remain in the hands of the taxpayers rather than being sent to Washington is approximately $850 billion. So while a clean tax bill would have certainly been preferable, the tax relief it contains is significant. It means $850 billion will be spent, saved or invested by American citizens rather than being sent into the black hole known as the federal treasury.

The media however dutifully reported that opposition to the bill came from concerned members of Congress who felt the $850 billion “cost” of the bill was too high and would add too much to the deficit. As always, they could not distinguish between government giving and government taking away. The American people already pay plenty in federal taxes. The deficit is the result of a spending problem, not a revenue problem. Had the bill not passed, millions of Americans would have seen their paychecks shrink in January due to the increased tax withholding. That is the plain and simple truth, and that is why I voted for the bill.

by Ron Paul

I recently voted again in favor of HR 4853, the Middle Class Tax Relief Act, legislation which ensures the continuation of the Bush-era tax cuts, fixes the AMT patch, and significantly reduces the burden of the estate tax in 2011. If no action had been taken by this Congress, all Americans would have had to pay higher income, dividend, estate, and capital gains taxes beginning on January 1, 2011. I will always vote to lower taxes at all levels, and I will never vote for tax increases.

Many opponents of this bill labor under the mistaken impression that it contains huge amounts of pork, earmarks, and other spending. What they are referring to is hundreds of billions of dollars worth of tax credits. Tax credits are not spending, they are not earmarks, they are not pork: they merely allow people to keep more of their own money. While the Administration’s desire in extending these particular credits may be to placate certain constituencies or to spur consumption or investment into certain sectors of the economy, the morally correct position is to allow people to keep their hard-earned money. That money belongs to the people and businesses who earned it, not to the government. If one wants to make it more equitable, then the amount of tax credits should be increased to include everyone.

Characterizing the tax cuts as fiscally irresponsible, as other opponents of the bill have done, is equally misguided. Those who wish to see this deal defeated because it “adds nearly $900 billion to the National Debt” are punishing taxpayers for the profligacy of the government. The National Debt is nearly $14 trillion because of excessive spending, not because of tax cuts. Every dollar added to the National Debt is due to the government’s inability to rein in spending, not because American taxpayers are paying too little of their salaries to the federal government. This is why I vote against all appropriations bills. Allowing taxes to rise and provide more money to the federal government would only serve to further feed the beast that is devouring this country.

This bill also reduces the burden of the estate tax, which according to law is set to return in 2011. This unconscionable tax is an insidious form of double taxation and comes into effect in 2011 with a 55% tax rate. Americans should not be penalized for accumulating savings during their lifetimes. The estate tax especially harms small and family-owned businesses, which often must be sold to pay the tax bill. HR 4853 reduces this death tax rate from 55% to 35%, and raises the exemption from $1 million to $5 million. While I would prefer to see this tax eliminated completely, this significant tax cut will help thousands of families.

Many people have urged that this tax bill be rejected and that Republicans come back in January to vote on a clean bill. Waiting until the next Congress would also mean that taxpayers would have much more of their salary withheld until any tax cuts could be made. While it is certainly possible to wait until January, we still have a Democratic Senate, and a Democratic president who would likely veto a clean tax bill. I too would prefer to see a completely clean bill, but that is not what we have been given. A vote against the bill before us today would be a vote to raise taxes on all Americans.

Much of the debate about this bill only serves to distract people from discussing substantive change and lead to argument about picayune minutiae. I believe we should abolish the income tax and eliminate the IRS altogether. Congress funded the government using excise taxes for more than 120 years without an income tax, and the federal government not surprisingly adhered much more closely to the constitutionally-defined limits of its powers during that time. Real tax reform can only happen when we insist on reducing the size of the federal government and reducing the pork in its bloated budget.

Date: 12/16/2010

Date: 12/16/2010

Date: 12/14/2010

Transcript

Wolf Blitzer: Joining us now is a Republican who comes to this debate with his always unique and outspoken point of view, Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Congressman, thanks very much for coming in.

Ron Paul: Thank you, Wolf.

Wolf Blitzer: When it comes to the president’s economic policies, his tax policies, is there anything in there you like?

Ron Paul: Well, I understand there will be some tax credits and that means there’ll be lower taxes for businesspeople and encourage investment, although they are short term and we don’t know what would happen after a couple of years. No, anything that will cut taxes I’m for, the fact that he’ll be raising spending, but also because he doesn’t plan to raise taxes on the lower income people under $200,000 or $250,000, I think that’s good. It’d be horrible if he did raise the taxes at the first year on all those. So I have to say that is a little bit of relief to know that those taxes won’t go up.

Wolf Blitzer: Because you’re a deficit hawk, you hate this huge national debt, the annual budget deficits. The White House says if you eliminate the tax breaks for the wealthy Americans, those families making more than $250,000 a year, about 2 or 3% of all Americans out there, you’re going to save $700 billion over the next 10 years. $700 billion, that would be good to have that reduction in the national debt, wouldn’t it?

Ron Paul: Well, it would be, but it would be a horrible way of doing it. That means taxes are going up $700 billion. I could think of a much better thing to do and that would be to read that article by Stiglitz this morning. He said he made an error last year when he did that report that he said the Iraq war was going to cost us over $3 trillion. He says it’s going to be much higher than $3 trillion. Why don’t we stay out of these wars and save this money, that’s what we need to do. We need to cut the spending and we don’t have to tax people and we could solve this problem, but nobody wants to give an inch on these overseas expenditures, the Republicans don’t want to cut overseas expenditures and war, neither does Obama. So, but the American people, the ones I talk to at least, are all for it.

Wolf Blitzer: I know you were…

Ron Paul: So that’s where it should go, we should cut spending overseas.

Wolf Blitzer: We had you on recently with Congressman Barney Frank. You guys have some ideas to save hundreds of billions of dollars in defense related spending, we discussed that. The president also went after some Republicans for wanting to privatize Social Security, listen to what he said.

Barack Obama: As long as I’m president, no one is going to take the retirement savings of a generation of Americans and hand it over to Wall Street. Not on my watch.

Wolf Blitzer: Do you agree with the president on that?

Ron Paul: Well, I have to know what he is thinking about on privatizing what others think about privatizing because it’s two different things.

Wolf Blitzer: He doesn’t want to privatize it, he wants to keep it the way it is now.

Ron Paul: Yeah, but I want to know what privatize means. If we could turn this money over and give the individual money like an investment retirement fund that they manage, that’s a little bit different. But I think most people, what they think about privatizing and I’m not for this type of privatizing, that’s when the government manages accounts and gets involved in the stock market, if that’s what he’s thinking about, I don’t want any part of that. But I want to privatize the retirement funds and put the responsibility on the individual. That to me is a lot different type of privatization. But for government bureaucrats to get involved in the stock market, I don’t like that.

Besides, if you truly have privatization, you can make your own choices, but it’s when, the way we have it now, you only can buy government debt, that’s really not a very good investment. But I think these are academic arguments because, talking about 5 or 10 years from now, we’re facing up such a serious crisis with our dollar and our financial situation. The next 2 or 3 years, this is going to be resolved because we’re going to have a financial crisis based on a dollar devaluation and that to me is going to change all the rules in the game. And talking about the tax code for a year or two I won’t have a whole lot of meaning.

Wolf Blitzer: I’m curious what your reaction is to this pastor in Florida who wants to burn copies of the Quran on Saturday.

Ron Paul: Well, I put a little statement out about that because everybody was talking about it. It’s a shame he’s getting this much attention, and Petraeus made this statement that I agreed with, he said “this could endanger our troops” and I agree with that. But I also went on to add the point, as much danger as burning the Quran might be, what about our invasion, our bombing, collateral damage, arrests and secret prisons and pictures of torture, drone attacks, do you think that isn’t an incitement to violence overseas? I mean, they already have so much.

Yes, we should recognize that this is not good for us, it’s a bad image. Of course nobody is challenging his right to do this thing, I mean we’re even allowed to burn flags in this country, so that isn’t the issue as much, for me it was the issue of saying what kind of a reaction would this be, and I say our foreign policy has a much, much more negative reaction than burning Quran would.

Wolf Blitzer: Very quickly, because we got this new CNN Time Magazine poll in on the race for the Senate in Kentucky, your son Rand Paul is running. Right now we have it as a dead heat among registered voters, Rand Paul 46%, Jack Conway the Attorney General there 46%. Are you surprised by this poll, how close it is?

Ron Paul: I think that’s pure fiction, that’s the biggest surprise of my life. If that happened, it happened within the last 12 hours, I think we better check that one out. But no, the race will be hard for, and hard run and he’ll run as if it’s tied. But those aren’t quite the accurate statistics that I’ve been hearing about.

Wolf Blitzer: Yeah, I’ve heard other polls that had your son way ahead. But this is among registered voters, CNN Time Opinion Research Corporation poll; we’ll stay on top of this race and all the other races. Always to have you in the Situation Room, Congressman, thanks for coming in.

Ron Paul: Thank you, Wolf.

Channel: MSNBC
Date: 04/15/2010

Transcript

Tamron Hill: Tea Party activists are gathering right now in the nation’s capital to mark Tax Day. It’s also the end of the 19 day, 49 stop tour organized by the Tea Party Express and they’ve been protesting big government, big spending, and high taxes. There are rallies scheduled all over the country today, including Chicago, Ann Arbor, and Albuquerque. Another major rally will be held near the Washington monument tonight at 6.

Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas will be attending and speaking at tonight’s rally, and he’s likely to get a hero’s welcome from the anti-tax activists because he wants to completely eliminate the income tax and abolish the IRS. In fact, at last weekend’s Southern Republican Leadership Conference, Congressman Paul came in second in their straw poll. He was just one vote behind Mitt Romney. With me now, Republican Congressman Ron Paul of Texas. Congressman Paul, great to have you on, thanks so much.

Ron Paul: Thank you, good to be with you.

Tamron Hill: So let me ask you, what do you think of these huge rallies again today, Tax Day? You’re going to speak to the folks there. What do you plan to tell them tonight?

Ron Paul: Probably the same old thing I’ve been talking about for the last 30 years. Government is too big, they spend too much money, and the deficit is going to be very very damaging to us. We’re in the midst of the damage that deficits bring, we have a severe financial crisis. I don’t think it’s over. I think it’s going to get a lot worse. We’re much poorer than we used to be, we live on borrowed money, and the basic flaw is not taxation. Taxation is the symptom. The basic flaw is in what the American people expect from their government. As long as the American people condone and encourage a government that’s supposed to take care of them from cradle to grave, as long as they condone a government that they think should police the world and have troops in 135 countries and have 700 bases, no. You can’t do anything about balancing the budget. You can’t do anything about cutting taxes. Because if you cut income tax and cut taxes, and you still spend, you still borrow, and then you still print money, and inflation is a tax because they literally destroy the value of money and that is a tax as well.

Tamron Hill: Congressman, you bring up the income tax certainly and you have supporters that are tried and true behind you. But in this new poll, the New York Times CBS poll, they asked Tea Party activists whether the income tax they pay is fair. 52 percent said yes. They think it’s fair. 42 percent say no. What do you make of the 52 percent who say they’re getting a fair shake but they have these signs out saying tyranny and other things?

Ron Paul: I don’t know, I don’t know the accuracy of a poll like that. All I can say is 42 percent of the American people, they’re sick and tired of it. Our numbers are growing, it used to be 10 percent of us thought it was bad. So I would say compared to 30 years ago when I started, we’re making great progress. But once they realize the consequence of what we’re doing, yes, they’re going to be willing to give up on their taxes. Matter of fact, some of those people might have been poor enough where they didn’t have to pay taxes, so maybe that’s why they thought it was fair.

Tamron Hill: You know, that’s interesting you bring up the poverty because also in this poll it says that the Tea Party members who participated in the poll believed that blacks are greatly benefiting from this administration more than whites, and that somehow poor people are benefiting greatly. But to set that aside, you have been incredibly popular. You came out on top in that straw poll at CPAC, as I mentioned you were just behind Mitt Romney by 1 point, some are asking why aren’t you getting the respect you deserve from the Republican establishment. What do you say to that?

Ron Paul: Well, I should say that you should ask them. I don’t think it’s a lack of respect but they would like me to go away, I’ll tell you that. And I think it’s because I point out a consistent argument for limited government. Republicans are known for preaching limited government and individual liberty, but I really maintain that and I vote that way. So I want limited government when it comes to our freedoms and our privacy and our personal lives, but I want limited government when it comes to worldwide affairs. I just don’t believe that you have to have an empire and be a conservative. I think that’s not being conservative, and it goes to prove that whether you have Republicans or Democrats, this administration isn’t rejecting the notion that we should be around the world and expanding war. They’re increasing the troops and all in Afghanistan. I think this embarrasses the leadership because they preach one thing and they want to get their votes and they say “We are the party of limited government and balanced budgets” but they lost a lot of credibility. The Republicans had a chance, and I think that nobody likes to be pointed, have a finger pointed and say “Hey, why don’t you live up to your promises?” That’s why the people are frustrated and that’s why there’s a lot of people, especially young people, who like the message I’ve been delivering.

Tamron Hill: Congressman Ron Paul, it’s always a great pleasure having you on, and I should also point out your son Rand Paul is doing very well in Kentucky as well. The numbers show really good for him. Thank you very much, we greatly appreciate having you on. Thank you.

Ron Paul: Thank you.