Model Resolution on Limited Government Exposed

The Model Resolution on Limited Government is listed under ALEC's Tax an Fiscal Policy Task Force, but does not include the date of adoption or approval. (Accessed on 1/25/2016).

ALEC Resolution Text

Summary:

This resolution encourages Congress and legislatures to recognize and honor the necessary limitations of government, and to restore greater economic liberty to their citizens for the sake of freedom itself.

WHEREAS, the proper role of government is to protect individual citizens’ inalienable rights to life, liberty, property, and the fruits of their own labor; and

WHEREAS, citizens voluntarily bestow coercive power upon government to levy taxes insofar as it is necessary to fill that role; and

WHEREAS, this privilege of coercive power must therefore not be abused to expand government beyond its proper role into areas traditionally (and best) served by individual entrepreneurs; and

WHEREAS, each new area of government spending tends to become entrenched and grow exponentially in future budgets in perpetuity; and

WHEREAS, such growth imposes increasing budgetary demands that lead to more and greater taxation; and

WHEREAS, tax revenue is money taken from individuals by government, and cannot therefore be available to each of them for use according to their own individual needs; and

WHEREAS, compelling arguments against overly burdensome taxation have focused on the ability to maximize tax revenues and thereby contribute to greater government growth; and

WHEREAS, the true virtue of lowering the tax burden imposed upon citizens by government is that it expands individual liberty and thereby allows for greater economic growth; and

WHEREAS, maximizing liberty is a more desirable societal good than maximizing tax revenues and government growth; and

NOW THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that for the sake of greater individual liberty, which is the key to the success of the American Experiment, and for the sake of greater economic growth, which is a product of liberty, we the legislators of the state of [Insert State] pledge to the citizens whom we serve to return government to its proper purposes and to reverse its encroachment into areas best served by private individuals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that we urge the United States Congress and our fellow state legislatures to make and keep a similar pledge to their constituencies.

Unanimously Passed