The U.S. Budget Surplus.

• Position: Brief Article

What should we do with the money?

CUT TAXES

Is it right for Washington to take from the taxpayer more money than is necessary to run the government? The issue of tax relief isn't any more complicated than that.... We believe government is not automatically entitled to the surplus that is in large part due to the hard work, thrift, and risk-taking of the American people.

[A tax cut will] provide American families with the relief and resources they need to meet pressing concerns. [It] will help individuals and families save for ... retirement. It will help parents prepare for educational costs. It will give the self-employed and underemployed the boost they need to pay for health insurance.

Today our taxes are the highest percent of our gross national product [the value of all goods and services produced by a nation] of any time in postwar history... A refund from the surplus must now be returned to the taxpayer.

--SENATOR WILLIAM V. ROTH JR. (R-Del.)

INVEST

We are far better able to afford public investment today than we were a few years ago, when we had a deficit--a shortage of money in the federal budget. Yet we're investing less.

By public investments, I mean things that will make the nation more productive in the future but that individuals or businesses have little incentive to do on their own. Research and development...