Poverty is what happens without liberty, property rights and freedom of association and contract. The question is not why some are poor, but why some societies become rich. Freedom, property rights, the right of free association and contract and hard money lead to wealth and prosperity.

President of Americans For Tax Reform, Grover Norquist

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Low tax rates. Low taxes increase the return to work, savings and investment. If the top rate is 90% (as it was during World War II) and you work on Saturday to earn $100 then you keep ten dollars and the state gets 90 dollars. When Reagan brought the top rate to 28%, the same amount of work yields 72 dollars for you and 28 for the government. The return to work increased by seven times. Lower rates have the same effect on savings and investment. The return on savings and investment increases. The cost of immediate consumption increases.

Limited government spending. The true cost of government is spending. Money can be extracted from the economy through taxes, debt or inflating the currency every dollar spent will eventually be wrung from the private sector. Keep your eye on total spending, not side issues like the deficit.

Property rights respected by and enforced by a limited government that is funded by low taxes. People invest in things they own: land, houses, cars, clothing. No one washes a rented car.

Free Trade. Free Trade is another word for free markets and low taxes across the globe. Tariffs are just taxes at the border and they are paid by Americans who must pay extra to buy a shirt from Brazil.

President of Americans For Tax Reform, Grover Norquist

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A minimum wage is a law that makes it illegal for two people to agree on a labor contract the government disapproves of. It violates the rights of the worker and the employer. Both would voluntarily sign a mutually beneficial contract but the government gets in the way.

Minimum wages were used in South Africa to keep less well trained black workers from competing with white labor in the mines. It plays the same role in keeping young and untrained teenagers out of the workplace in the United States.

President of Americans For Tax Reform, Grover Norquist

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Government should enforce and protect property rights, avoid creating barriers to entry for companies and individuals looking to create small businesses and self-employment.

Government should allow either competing private currencies or if they maintain a monopoly on fiat currency they should link its value to real goods such as gold or a basket of commodities.

Why should government be limited in scope and function? Well, the Constitution says so. The list of legitimate, Constitutional powers the federal government has are spelled out. There is a list of things they definitely cannot do the Bill of Rights. The ninth and tenth amendments reiterate that if they are not listed in the Constitution they are denied to the federal government and reserved to the states or the people.

President of Americans For Tax Reform, Grover Norquist

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Voluntary unions are like any voluntary organization and do no damage. Mandatory unions where workers are forced by law or threats of violence to pay union dues to union bosses create a monopoly power that extorts money from workers without their permission. And damages both workers and the general economy.

President of Americans For Tax Reform, Grover Norquist

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If by effective one means consistent with a free and prosperous society the answer is: a single rate income tax that taxes income one time and does not double-tax savings and investment.

A single rate tax, either an income tax or a sales tax means that every single American has the same relationship with their government. Graduated or progressive income taxes allow the government to divide Americans into different groups and mug them one at a time.

President of Americans For Tax Reform, Grover Norquist

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Those who live off the wages of others devise many theories on why taxpayers should ante up and send them more money. Those made rich at the expense of taxpayers have many theories on why government should be big.

President of Americans For Tax Reform, Grover Norquist

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