For example, after a strategic review, we may need to increase defense spending. We may need to increase spending for our farmers or additional money to reform Medicare. So my budget sets aside almost a trillion dollars over 10 years for additional needs, that is one trillion additional reasons you can feel comfortable supporting this budget.
We have increased our budget at a responsible 4 percent. We have funded our priorities. We have paid down all the available debt. We have prepared for contingencies, and we still have money left over. Yogi Berra once said "when you come to a fork in the road, take it." Now we come to a fork in the road. We have two choices. Even though we have already met our needs, we could spend the money on more and bigger government. That is the road our Nation has traveled in recent years.
Last year, government spending shot up 8 percent. That is far more than our economy grew, far more than personal income grew and far more than the rate of inflation. If you continue on that road, you will spend the surplus and have to dip into Social Security to pay other bills.
Unrestrained government spending is a dangerous road to deficits, so we must take a different path. The other choice is to let the American people spend their own money to meet their own needs. I hope you will join me in standing firmly on the side of the people.
You see, the growing surplus exists because taxes are too high and government is charging more than it needs. The people of America have been overcharged, and on their behalf, I am here asking for a refund.
Some say my tax plan is too big. Others say it is too small. I respectfully disagree. This plan is just right.
I did not throw darts at a board to come up with a number for tax relief. I did not take a poll or develop an arbitrary formula that might sound good. I looked at problems in the Tax Code and calculated the costs to fix them.
A tax rate of 15 percent is too high for those who earn low wages, so we must lower the rate to 10 percent. No one should pay more than a third of the money they earn in Federal income taxes, so we lowered the top rate to 33 percent.
This reform will be welcome relief for America's small businesses, which often pay taxes at the highest rate, and help for small business means jobs for Americans.
We simplified the Tax Code by reducing the number of tax rates from the current five rates to four lower ones, 10 percent, 15 percent, 25 percent and 33 percent. In my plan, no one is targeted in or targeted out. Everyone who pays income taxes will get relief.