Good Luck Getting Us to the Polls November 6th, Mr. President

Do you remember opening your first paycheck and gasping at the amount of money the government took from your earnings? Maybe that gut-wrenching feeling is still a reality.

A recent poll by McClatchy-Marist showed that an overwhelming 69 percent of 18-29 year olds support universal tax cuts, while only 29 percent oppose it.

This isn’t surprising.

Young people love freedom, they love earning their way, and they love success. When the freedom and opportunity to work hard and reap the fruits of that labor is taken away, it hurts. This is exactly what big government has achieved.

Big government policies are only making it harder for young people to find jobs. The latest labor report showed that youth unemployment is nearly 17 percent—more than double the national average.

This too is not surprising.

The Bush tax cuts are scheduled to expire in 2013. The current Administration has only proposed to extend the tax cuts for those making under $250,000 a year. Unfortunately, this will only hurt job creation, not help it.

According to the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB), 75 percent of small businesses pay taxes on their businesses income at the individual rate. The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) estimates that the tax-hike would hit around 940,000 small businesses. The JCT also shows that President Obama’s plan for massive tax hikes would mean higher taxes on 53 percent of business income reported on individual returns. Small businesses employ more than 25 percent of the total workforce. Raising taxes on businesses would threaten these jobs in a time when job creation is most needed.

It is no wonder that young people can’t find jobs. Young American’s are forced to compete with hundreds of thousands of unemployed people that have more experience and seniority. Businesses can’t afford to expand, and if they do they aren’t hiring inexperienced Millenials.

The more money that is taken out of the private sector, the less money businesses have on hand to expand and hire workers. Tax hikes force businesses to scale back, and jobs are the excess fat that must be trimmed.

We don’t have to look far back in history to show that universal tax cuts lead to job creation.

President Reagan inherited an anemic economy plagued with high unemployment and inflation. Rather than pointing fingers at others, Reagan took the bull by the horns and slashed taxes by 25 percent across the board. The results were amazing.

At the beginning of his administration, the peak unemployment rate for 18-24 year olds was 15 percent. By the end it had dropped to 8.6 percent—just around our current national average.

In fact, in just the first three years of the Reagan presidency youth unemployment dropped 3 percent. Can we say the same for President Obama? No.

Rather than taking the necessary steps to reduce unemployment, President Obama continually makes a case for class warfare. The result: the unemployment rate has exceeded 8 percent for 42 straight months, and youth unemployment is rising at an even faster pace.

President Obama’s blame tactics and Robin Hood rhetoric is proven null and void in Reagan’s shadow, and young people are starting to realize this. 77 percent of young people supported President Obama in 2008, while only 48 percent support him today. With youth unemployment continually on the rise and young people being forced to put their careers on hold, President Obama is going to have a terrible time getting them to the polls.