As the country geared up for President Obama’s State of the Union Address last month, NTU Foundation followers were putting their money where their mouths are. They took the facts, figures, and conclusions of our research and placed their guesses as to how much the speech’s proposals could cost taxpayers.
Douglas Abrams was one member of Team Taxpayer who placed a guess. He was right on the money. His guess of $40 billion in spending increases was the closest entry in our SOTU Price Tag contest. We wanted to learn more about Douglas and share his insights with you. Care to share your own thoughts? Send me an email with these questions answered and you could be featured on NTUF’s blog!
Without further ado, here’s Douglas Abrams!
Tell us a little about yourself.
My name is Douglas Abrams. I am 81 years old, I grew up in Louisville, KY, graduated from the Univ. of Louisville, now retired and love to play golf anytime I can find to do so.
How did you get involved in the taxpayer movement?
I got involved in the taxpayer movement because I pay too many taxes and am outraged out how wasteful the government is with our money. Government is too big, too involved in every facet of our lives, and this trend is getting worse and has accelerated with the Obama administration.
Who is your favorite political figure?
My favorite political figure was Ronald Reagan who set the nation on the right course when it was sorely needed, and was a true Conservative.
Describe Congress in 5 words.
Interested only in their reelection!
How would you balance the federal budget?
To balance the budget we need to start now to eliminate unnecessary government agencies, put in automatic minimum 5% cuts in each remaining agency's total expense every year except Defense, stop baseline budgeting, enact growth policies for the economy to fund the government, and enact a simplified flat tax with no deductions except a specific family income exempt from income tax and with a substantially reduced function for the IRS and no taxes on savings and investment income.
Have you been impacted by a regulation?
Every single one of us is impacted by government regulations. The added expense of regulation must be paid eventually by all of us. Many regulatory agencies, such as EPA and the Dept. of Education to name two, are completely out of control and are largely driven by ideology not facts or critical assessment of the cost/benefit aspect of regulation.
If you could tell other taxpayers how to make a difference, what should they do?
All taxpayers should care about taxes and spending by the government and be active in telling their elected representatives that they will be held responsible for their actions or inactions. The tax and spend politicians must be defeated at the polls. We have a national debt of over $18 trillion and unfunded liabilities far in excess of that number, and it is growing. Most Americans do not know the difference between deficits and total debt, and have no idea the trouble the country is in for fiscally irresponsible actions by the government. We have reached the point where too many people have become entitlement addicted and many of our politicians want it that way offering more "freebies" in an attempt to get reelected "because they care". In fact, these actions prove they do not care except for their reelection. Stringent actions to reduce the debt and to face up to the unfunded liabilities must be taken, and more responsibility for ourselves individually without government involvement must start happening before it is too late.
If Congress were to pass one fiscal measure, what would you want it to be?
A tax code which puts incentives on saving, growth of the economy and investment would go a long way to solving the many fiscal problems the country faces.
Check out NTUF’s complete analysis of President Obama’s 2015 State of the Union Address and subscribe to receive the latest from Team Taxpayer’s Foundation. Want to help NTUF reach more taxpayers? Make a tax-deductible donation and help us keep a tab on Congress!