Economic Policy
Common Sense Mandates that we believe in fair, meaningful, and affordable Pro-Family, Pro-Education, and Pro-Jobs economic and tax policies. We also believe that most government, at most levels, has become too big, too cumbersome, too ineffective, and too invasive with little accountability for its actions. The Federal Government’s departments should be managed like well-run corporations, but also with heart and reasonable openness, in order to maximize Enthusiasm, Efficiency, Cost Effectiveness, and Public Accountability, saving the taxpayer trillions of dollars. The savings could go to elementary, secondary, and higher education, to help Americans truly in need, and to other areas such as badly needed transportation infrastructure improvements, national power grid improvements, sensible immigration reform, and future entitlements solvency.
We believe in a hybrid federal personal income tax policy that incorporates a flat 15% tax rate for taxable individuals and households whose annual incomes are below an as-yet-to-be-determined lower six-figure dollar amount, and a progressively increasing rate for incomes over that amount, up to a maximum of 40% for an as-yet-to-be-determined highest income level range. This would incentivize lower moderate to upper middle-income taxpayers to work productively, and instill public responsibility and support of government services among high-income taxpayers. The current low capital gains tax structure, for corporations and individuals, is reasonable because it provides incentive for individuals and corporations that take investment risks.
Medicare and Social Security entitlements are critical to the well-being of our senior citizens who have spent the bulk of their adult lives paying into those programs. However, to secure the survival of Social Security, given the dramatically higher average life expectancies, the earliest social security benefit age should be increased from 62 to 65, and the full social security benefit age should be increased from 66 to 70, to be phased in among generations born after 1964 (last birth year of baby boom generation). To make the Medicare program financially secure, Medicare withholding taxes for higher income taxpayers could be increased modestly, and the very reasonable quarterly premium and annual co-pay maximum limit amounts that are paid by seniors, after they become eligible at age 65, could be increased a reasonably modest amount. In addition, for both Social Security and Medicare, wealthy individuals, as defined by a certain minimum high net worth (possibly $5 million), beginning at the age of 65, and in any year thereafter, would not be entitled to receive Social Security or Medicare benefits in those years; this is only fair. Any of their high medical costs could be covered by private health insurance.
We also believe in the promotion of the US Dollar as the sole currency for all of North America, including Canada, Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and Greenland, making the entire continent of North America the Dollar Zone (similar to Europe's Euro Zone). We already provide air and sea protection to vast, sparsely populated Greenland, well into the Arctic, so we could offer to buy it from its parent country, Denmark, an extremely small northern European country, located far from Greenland. Stronger and smoother trade, commerce, security, and intra-North American immigration would be a welcomed end result of making the US dollar the single currency of North America. It would also make North America more unified, resulting in a stronger North American defense.
Feel free to contact John directly in order to learn more about how you can take part in changing the course of our great nation with the Common Sense Independent Party.