Pledge protects your paycheck

The spending interests in Washington, D.C., live well spending your tax dollars on themselves. They whine every year about the Taxpayer Protection Pledge organized by Americans for Tax Reform.

Get political vows in ink

The Pledge is a public, written, signed commitment by a candidate for office that he or she will oppose and vote against any tax increase.

The Pledge protects your paycheck from the spenders. The spenders don’t like that.

Most Republicans in Congress have signed the Pledge to their voters. And kept it.

Other politicians make secret promises to the special spending interests. They will not promise to leave you alone. Their promises are made in dark rooms to the government unions, contractors and recipients of tax dollars. They want more of your paycheck.

President Obama was very mad at the Pledge (and me) because he wanted at least $1.4 trillion in higher taxes in 2011. Republicans in Congress who had signed the Pledge to op- pose tax hikes kept their word, stood firm and passed a budget that will reduce spending $1 trillion over the next decade.

American workers and families won. Washington spending interests lost. The Pledge helped make this possible.

Obama ran in 2008 promising, “No family making less than $250,000 a year will see any form of tax increase. Not your income tax, not your payroll tax, not your capital gains taxes, not any of your taxes.” It only took him two weeks to break that verbal promise. And then again at least seven times in the 20 taxes in Obamacare.

This is why taxpayers need such promises in writing. Do you remember the establishment press condemning Obama in 2009 and 2010 when he broke his word and raised taxes on the middle class? Neither do I. When George H.W. Bush broke his written pledge, he lost the presidency.

In a crisis, politicians will either reform the government to cost less or they can paper over the problems of the past with higher taxes.

They should tell us now which they plan to do. In writing.