It is a pleasure to speak to you today at this great gathering of freedom lovers.

The National Taxpayers Union - 31 years old this year - is proud to have so often worked side by side with our good friends in the Libertarian Party.

I’m also proud to tell you that we have 300,000 members nationwide - many of whom are here today.

I want to speak briefly today about the battle on behalf of taxpayers. Let me divide that battle into old threats and new threats.

In terms of old threats, the big spending in Washington and America’s state capitals continues. Much of the impetus for this spending is coming from all the extra money that government now has on its hands - the latest federal surplus estimates are $4.2 trillion over 10 years.

We have these huge surpluses for one reason - the great economic growth based on the genius of America’s capitalist system. The politicians say it has been their prudence, but nothing is further from the truth. The coffers of government at all levels are exploding with tax dollars because of our current economic expansion. In the current fiscal year, the Office of Management and Budget projects the federal government will collect 54 percent more revenue than it did just ten years ago (and that’s adjusting for inflation).

Many ask why the current tax over-payments (also known as budget surpluses) aren’t being turned back to those who earned them - hard-working Americans. The answer - NTU believes - lies in the fact that the politicians of America - by and large - view this money as their’s. One of the most important tasks of the National Taxpayers Union and the Libertarian Party is to send a message to Washington and all across America that those tax dollars are our’s - we want them back!

But friends, as big as the old threats are, the tax-and-spend crowd - the liberal politicians, their labor union allies, their friends in the media and at America’s universities - are constantly looking for new ways to increase their control and take more of our earnings. Let me discuss two of the newest threats.

Most of America’s Governors - led by Republican Governor Mike Leavitt of Utah - are working tirelessly to create a massive new government regime to tax Internet transactions. The politicians claim it’s an issue of fairness. But the reality is that it’s just about more money. Governor Leavitt and his friends haven’t told the people the truth, which is the states don’t need it! State and local government tax receipts grew by over 30 percent between 1994 and 1999.

Rather than figuring out new taxes to add onto businesses, Congress and the states should be focusing on lowering the old ones.

The crusade for taxing the Internet is being done in the name of "fairness." Supposedly, without an elaborate new sales tax regime for the Internet, we are being unfair to "brick and mortar" businesses. For those businesses who don’t currently have an Internet presence and who feel that "fairness" dictates the establishment of new taxes on e-commerce, our message is simple:

NTU believes, quite simply, in a 100% tax-free Internet. Then all vendors - large and small - can sell their products completely tax-free. What could possibly be more fair than that?

Some of you may have read in the papers the past couple of days that Oracle and other companies that have been trying to use the government to destroy their economic opponents don’t like the National Taxpayers Union. The seekers of corporate welfare - such as Oracle - are not going to intimidate NTU and I believe that ultimately, they will be unsuccessful in their attempts to use America’s court system to throttle their competition.

This effort by some high tech companies to use our court system to stymie their competition is a cousin of recent efforts by governments to sue legal industries because their products are "politically incorrect." Guns and tobacco have been the targets to far. We’re not sure who’s next - alcohol, fast food are probably high on the list of targets.

In all these efforts, the trial lawyers, many state Attorneys General, and greedy politicians believe that they have found in America’s judicial system a wonderful new way to get into our wallets, our businesses, and our lives.

The most dangerous aspect of this is how the trial lawyers and politicians are working hand-in-hand to bring about their dreams of big government through litigation. There is now a new iron triangle in American politics:

We say to this whole crowd - stay out! Courts are for criminals, not law-abiding companies and citizens.

i. The supposed political revolution of 1994 has not delivered on the promise of smaller government

ii. Americans now face a tax burden of almost 40%.

iii. Congressional spending is out-of-control. Budget caps that were put in place in 1997 have been continually broken and will be smashed again this year.

iv. While some taxes are being cut, most of the budget surpluses at the federal and state level are being used to build more government.

There is a power - and actually, I believe, an inevitability - to the ideas of freedom. Some time - maybe not next year and maybe not in five years - but some time in the coming decades, these ideas will win in the public policy arena.

Let me mention three areas: i) retirement policy, ii) medical care, and iii) tax policy.

i. In our retirement policy, Social Security has failed and in the coming decades will go bankrupt. It’s time to completely revamp Social Security and end this program as we know it. Instead, we should empower individuals through creation of individually-owned and individually-controlled retirement accounts. Americans must again have ownership of their retirement.

ii. In terms of medical care, government-controlled and bureaucracy-controlled health care only drives up costs and aggravates Americans. The day will soon come when we let Americans take control of their health care decisions through measures such as Medical Savings Accounts.

iii. And as far as tax policy, our income tax code is a disaster that is only getting worse. Our tax code is the number one reason for the massive presence of lawyers and lobbyists in our political process today. Thus, in Washington, there are almost twice as many law firms as churches! The solution is not tinkering around the edges, but to throw out the income tax completely and replace it with a consumption tax.

So in all these areas, public policies have failed miserably in the 20^th century.

I firmly believe that in the 21^st century, America will realize that if we to solve public policy problems - rather than just keep bureaucrats employed - solutions which are centered on individual choice and freedom are where we will go. There really is no other choice.

NTU believes that because of the power of these ideas, these changes will happen. The only question is when. Working together, we can make it sooner, rather than later. Let’s make the 21^st century, the century of liberty, responsibility and community!

"The Battle on Behalf of Taxpayers"