John Ashbrook Reports from Washington Newsletter

              Congressman
JOHN ASHBROOK
Reports from Washington
i 1436 Longworth H. 0. B.
Washington, D. C.
June, 1978
The Growing Taxpayer Revolt
The big news across the nation is the growing tax¬ payer revolt. Americans are fed up with high taxes, ex¬ cessive government spending and runaway inflation. Tbey are no longer willing to pour more and more of their hard-earned dollars into an ever larger and ever more ex¬ pensive government.
The loudest message came from California, where the voters overwhelmingly adopted a constitutional amendment that drastically reduces property taxes. Similar efforts are underway in many other parts of the country to limit the amount of money that can be taken out of the taxpayer's pocket. In our own state of Ohio, there is now talk of a constitutional amendment to put a lid on state spending and thus on state tax rates.
The biggest culprit of all when it comes to overspen¬ ding is the federal government. The budget for the next fiscal year provides approximately $500 billion in federal outlays. A half-trillion dollars! It also calls for a $51 billion deficit, the third largest in our nation's history.
The liberals in Congress are to blame for the tremen¬ dous size and cost of the government. For years the liberals have cast their votes for expensive new federal programs and billions and billions of dollars in deficit sp)ending. In fact, the overall federal debt has increased more than $300 billion in just the past seven years. The result is inflation, high taxes and excessive government.
I warned that this would happen. In 1968, for exam¬ ple, I criticized President Johnson for seeking to increase taxes as a check on inflation. 1 said on the House floor:
"Our problem is, as it has been for the past ten years. Government overspending not undertaxing. The liberal sp)enders have overpromised, overbur¬ dened, overspent, overtaxed, overcommitted, and overprogrammed .... The mishandling of our Federal Government which means the mishandling of our national resources — your resources — hasr been a disgrace."
Unfortimately, my advice was not heeded. President Johnson and his liberal friends in Congress added numerous new federal programs and expanded old ones. His "Great Society" brought us food stamps and other proverty programs that have swelled today into multi- billion   dollar   boondoggles.   And   successive   liloeral
The American Legion and VFW members are among our best citizens. It was most gratifying to congratulate the Ohio Legion Commander, Dale Chapman. We went to Johnstown High School together in the 1940's. He now lives in Beverly.
Congresses since that time have continued the same Sf)end, spend, spend and tax, tax, tax philosophy.
Despite the growing tax burden and rising inflation, liberals are even now still reluctant to cut back on federal programs and federal spending. Instead, Congress has approved a budget for 1979 that increases spending by almost 11 percent over 1978 levels and increases the national debt by 15 percent.
Congress can afford to wait no longer. We must place a lid on new spending schemes. We must start balancing the budget. We must bring spending under control so that we can lower taxes and defeat inflation.
CITIZEN PARTICIPATION STILL PAYS OFF!
In June the House of Representatives approved legislation that includes funding for the Mansfield Weather Station. This is a great victory for the residents of northcentral Ohio.
The outpouring of public support has been tremen¬ dous. 1 have received petitions with close to 15,000 sig¬ natures urging continuation of the Mansfield Weather