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Posted on 10/03/2003 8:27:17 AM PDT by jmc813
The American dream, as conceived by the nation's founders, has little in common with H.R. 1276, the so-called American Dream Downpayment Act. In the original version of the American dream, individuals earned the money to purchase a house through their own efforts, oftentimes sacrificing other goods to save for their first downpayment. According to the sponsors of H.R. 1276, that old American dream has been replaced by a new dream of having the federal government force your fellow citizens to hand you the money for a downpayment.
H.R. 1276 not only warps the true meaning of the American dream, but also exceeds Congress' constitutional boundaries and interferes with and distorts the operation of the free market. Instead of expanding unconstitutional federal power, Congress should focus its energies on dismantling the federal housing bureaucracy so the America people can control housing resources and use the free market to meet their demands for affordable housing.
As the great economist Ludwig Von Mises pointed out, questions of the proper allocation of resources for housing and other goods should be determined by consumer preference in the free market. Resources removed from the market and distributed according to the preferences of government politicians and bureaucrats are not devoted to their highest-valued use. Thus, government interference in the economy results in a loss of economic efficiency and, more importantly, a lower standard of living for all citizens.
H.R. 1276 takes resources away from private citizens, through confiscatory taxation, and uses them for the politically favored cause of expanding home ownership. Government subsidization of housing leads to an excessive allocation of resources to the housing market. Thus, thanks to government policy, resources that would have been devoted to education, transportation, or some other good desired by consumers, will instead be devoted to housing. Proponents of this bill ignore the socially beneficial uses the monies devoted to housing might have been put to had those resources been left in the hands of private citizens.
Finally, while I know this argument is unlikely to have much effect on my colleagues, I must point out that Congress has no constitutional authority to take money from one American and redistribute it to another. Legislation such as H.R. 1276, which takes tax money from some Americans to give to others whom Congress has determined are worthy, is thus blatantly unconstitutional.
I hope no one confuses my opposition to this bill as opposition to any congressional actions to ensure more Americans have access to affordable housing. After all, one reason many Americans lack affordable housing is because taxes and regulations have made it impossible for builders to provide housing at a price that could be afforded by many lower-income Americans. Therefore, Congress should cut taxes and regulations. A good start would be generous housing tax credits. Congress should also consider tax credits and regulatory relief for developers who provide housing for those with low incomes. For example, I am cosponsoring H.R. 839, the Renewing the Dream Tax Credit Act, which provides a tax credit to developers who construct or rehabilitate low-income housing.
H.R. 1276 distorts the economy and violates constitutional prohibitions on income redistribution. A better way of guaranteeing an efficient housing market where everyone could meet their own needs for housing would be for Congress to repeal taxes and programs that burden the housing industry and allow housing needs to be met by the free market. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to reject this bill and instead develop housing policies consistent with constitutional principles, the laws of economics, and respect for individual rights.
Right Again.
But the pubbies will run him out of town eventually.
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What's your thinking on tax credits as a government mechanism?
The RINO's have been threatening that for years, and he still kicks butt in every election.
Ron, you should know better than that. That's just substituting one subsidy for another.
I think all taxation is theft.
And I think theft is immoral.
So anything other than a 100% tax credit is likewise immoral.
Free men associate voluntarily... not coercively.
Paul's stated position on the subject, is that anything that returns taxes already paid, to the person who paid them, is a good thing.
I personally think it smells a little too much like the same old game..
The fact that he is a pariah in his own party tells you all you need to know about the party and where it's really coming from.
Paul is reviled my many on this website. They will soon join this thread unless they are too busy with the Rush feeding frenzy.
Feel like givin' them a ping? Should be amusing.
This is the crap that "limited government" Republicrats are trying to foist on us now? What happened to "elect us and we'll roll back Big Stupid Government"?
Now, it's just relentless Big Stupid Republican Government. No way in hell do I vote for more of that.
Nah, actually it's nauseating.
Not necessarily. It's not that they would be giving you money they had taken form somebody else. It's money they wouldn't be taking from you. And he did say that it was a 'start'.
I thought I was clearer in my last post, but perhaps not.
Let me try again.
Taxation... all taxation.. is property theft.
Ron Paul proposes a "tax credit" for a particular purpose (housing starts).
He believes, that he is retunring money to the people from whom it was taken (which I guess is somewhat true, and I understand his position).
But I think that it is ultimately a rationalization for continued theft, and it legitimizes the theft process in general.
Now I realize that Ron Paul is a politician, and therefore has assumed some measure of pragmatism (hoping to do good, with command of the evil ring).
But I submit that no good can come of it.
So while I admire Dr. Paul greatly.. I think his approach is wrong.
Throw the ring into the fires of Mt.Doom.
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