Opposing view: Don't raise taxes; just cut spending

• If the government increases taxes, it would have a long-term detrimental impact.
• Making the long-promised spending cuts immediately would spur business confidence and growth.
• The government should extend a goodwill gesture: Cut one cent.

With the government spending us deeper into debt, the fiscal cliff is a result of a Congress' incapability to spend within its means. But that by no means necessitates a tax hike.

Our leaders do not have an under-taxing problem. They have an over-spending problem.

If all those who earn $250,000 and over are taxed at 100% of their income, it would only cover 141 days of government spending, according to George Mason University economist Walter Williams. Never mind the fact those producing over $250,000 would have no incentive to continue earning, the government would still be overspending and still have to borrow more money.

If the government increases taxes, it would have a long-term detrimental impact while ignoring the serious problems in federal agencies and entitlement programs. And we are not gullible enough to believe that a plan conveniently proposing taxes now and cuts later would result in actually making those cuts. Congress and the president have pulled that trick far too many times.

Let's leave tax rates alone and instead make the long-promised spending cuts immediately that could spur business confidence and growth. Everybody knows the government is wasteful and redundant. How about simply asking all government agencies to cut just one cent out of every dollar they spend for five years? How about asking each member of Congress to come up with just one wasteful federal program to cut? Families reassessing their budgets have had to do far worse to pay for groceries and gas.

Instead of penalizing business owners, they should be freed up to reinvest in their companies and employees. More personal income and corporate investment lead to more the government can take in — increasing revenues without raising taxes on businesses, which in the long term is better for all.

The threatened hiring freeze by an Applebee's franchisee, and potential reductions in hours for employees at Papa John's, show that when you punish business owners with burdensome taxes or regulations (i.e. ObamaCare), they have no incentive to hire more employees and in turn create more government revenue. Why not empower them to grow their businesses, thereby growing our economy?

We are faced with the question of whether or not we'll fall for another deal that benefits politicians but does nothing to slow government growth, or whether we will take our medicine to begin recovery now. Before hiking taxes on struggling American families, the government should extend a goodwill gesture: Cut one cent. Then cut one cent from every dollar. Until the government cuts a single cent of over-spending, we should not let them take another cent from American families.

Jenny Beth Martin is co-founder and national coordinator for Tea Party Patriots.