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“The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government, are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite.The former will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, negotiation, and foreign commerce; with which last the power of taxation will, for the most part, be connected. The powers reserved to the several States will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern the lives, liberties, and properties of the people, and the internal order, improvement, and prosperity of the State.” James Madison, Federalist #45, 1788
The purpose of this proposed amendment to the U.S. Constitution is to return the federal level of government to that which was originally intended and to return the State Governments to their former co-equal position. After ratification by ¾ of the States, in accordance with Article V of the Constitution, the following provisions and changes will go into effect concerning the operation of the government of United States of America:
Section 1, Federal Budget: No federal budget expenditures, in any budget year, will exceed federal revenue for that same budget year. Every federal budget submitted by the Executive and passed by the Legislature must be balanced.
Congress cannot borrow money to engage in deficit spending except in an emergency situation and such borrowing and deficit spending cannot be approved except by a 2/3 vote of each house of the Legislature.
Section 2, Federal Taxes: All federal taxes are hereby repealed to include: progressive income taxes, capital gains taxes, dividend and interest taxes, corporate taxes, inheritance taxes, excise taxes, Social Security taxes, and Medicare taxes. This section repeals or alters duties of Congress outlined in Art I, Section 8 concerning the levying of taxes and repeals the 16th Amendment.
These repealed federal taxes will be replaced with a flat income tax of 10% for all workers in the United States with income. There will be no tax deductions or tax credits; the flat income tax of 10% will be deducted automatically from all income payments –to include payments to regular hourly and salaried employees and contract workers and payments of salary bonuses and payments made to self-employed individuals- and sent to the Department of the Treasury by each employer.
Social Security payments to individuals will be gradually phased out over a period of time that will allow payments to be made to those who kept faith with their government through their contributions to the Social Security retirement system. This period of time will not exceed 50 years and these payments during this drawn down will be administered by the Treasury Department.
This flat income tax amount of 10% cannot be increased by the Executive or the Legislature except with 2/3 vote of each house of the Congress.
Section 3, Executive Branch Bureaucracy Reduction: The federal level of government will cease its involvement in those areas traditionally and constitutionally reserved to the State Governments, in accordance with the 10th Amendment, to include elimination of the Federal Departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Energy, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Labor, Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, Veterans’ Affairs, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, the Federal Reserve System, and any and all other federal government agencies which are overreaching in federal authority. All congressional committees associated with the topic areas and duties that are eliminated will be disbanded and will forever cease to exist.
All of the offices, buildings, equipment, and supplies made redundant by these closures will be sold or auctioned and the funds will be turned over to the Treasury Department. The Department of the Interior will return all federally owned land confiscated over the last 100 years from the States, for the States to then utilize as they see fit.
The Executive Office of the President will consist of only those congressionally created offices whose heads will be appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate in accordance with Article II, Section 2, Paragraph 2. But at no time will the total number of advisors, council members, and staff members in the Executive Office of the President exceed 50. The President’s Cabinet will consist only of the Departments of:
o Defense (which will include the four military services along with the Coast Guard, NASA, and Veterans’ Affairs),
o State (which will handle trade issues and treaties with foreign nations along with other issues and treaties with foreign nations),
o Treasury (which will handle all duties concerning the money, the money supply, and the protection of it through the Secret Service),
o Justice (which will handle all national level law enforcement including homeland security, immigration, and border control),
o Interior (which will coordinate air traffic control and only those energy and transportation issues that need to be handled at the national level).
Section 4, Legislative Branch Accountability: Members of the Congress will be limited to a total of no more than 12 years of service in each house of the Legislature and will be subject to a recall vote prior to the end of any current term according to the recall laws of their respective States.
Congressional salaries are hereby frozen at current levels and cannot be increased except with a 2/3 vote in each house of the Legislature, after which the salary increase will not take effect until the sitting of the next Congress, in accordance with the 27th Amendment.
Congressional office staff will be decreased to a total of no more than 10 staff members per congressman, whether those staff members are located in the nation’s capital or in the congressman’s home State or district.
The annual budget for each congressional office will not exceed $1 million. This amount will be used to pay all of the expenses of the congressional office, including the salaries of the staff, the cost of any office space in the home State or district, travel to and from the home State or district, and all other expenses incurred by the congressman in the performance of congressional duties, not including the congressman’s own salary. This annual budget amount cannot be increased except with a 2/3 vote of each house of the Legislature. Each congressman will be personally liable for any expenses that exceed the annual office budget limit.
Congressional committee staff will be decreased to a total of no more than 10 staff members per committee for those committees still remaining in operation after the reductions in the size and scope of the federal government outlined above in Section 3.
Section 5, Campaign Finance: All persons legally authorized to cast a vote in a federal election can donate as much of their own money to a federal candidate as they choose in order to exercise their freedom of political speech, in accordance with the 1st Amendment. Information on all such donations will be made available immediately via the Internet, including the donor’s name, State of residence, business, amount donated, and the name of and office sought by the candidate to whom such donation was made. Any person, organization, entity, group, or corporation that is not legally authorized to cast a vote in a federal election, cannot make a donation of any kind whatsoever to any federal candidate.
Section 6, Ratification: This entire amendment will go into effect when ratified by ¾ of the States. There will be no time limit placed on the ratification of this amendment. After ratification is achieved the States may consider null and void any federal rules or regulations or mandates that cover areas no longer under the purview of the federal government.
Maryann Zihala, J.D. is a political scientist and author of Rights, Liberties & the Rule of Law (2004) and Democracy: The Greatest Good for the Greatest Number (2003).
