At no time in our nation’s history have we taxed our way to prosperity. We are no longer just competing here in America between states, between industries, between labor and non-labor businesses. We are now competing in a global economy – where if we don’t get it right here in America, businesses and their employees will leave.

Reducing taxes is not just an economic issue for me, it is a moral issue. There are two fundamental lines of thinking on taxes. One is that if you want to increase revenue to the federal government, you take more from working families by way of higher taxes and bring that money to Washington. The other is if you want to increase revenue, you get the government off our backs, reduce our taxes, and encourage economic activity. Senator Reid comes down on the former, while I come down on the latter.

For nearly three decades, Harry Reid has taken money out of our pockets so that he can fund a larger, more expansive and controlling government. As a former Nevada state senator and chairman of the Senate Taxation Committee, I consistently voted against tax increases. In fact, when special interests and high-taxing politicians tried to push tax increases through my committee, I simply shut it down, earning it the nickname the “Senate No-Taxation Committee”.

As your U.S. Senator, I would immediately do three things: 1) work to make the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts on all federal taxpayers permanent; 2) work to permanently repeal the Death Tax; and 3) join with other fiscal conservatives in the Senate to eliminate the capital gains tax.

On the first, Harry Reid has already stated his support for the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts to expire. This will create the largest tax increase in American history just two months after the 2010 election. Can our hardworking, recession-torn taxpayers truly afford that? And, does Washington really deserve to take more out of Nevada to waste on more government spending and control over our daily lives? I think not. Let’s keep our money here in Nevada, in our pockets and paychecks, so we can create jobs, spend that money our own families and businesses and force Washington to make the same spending sacrifices we have to make in our homes.

Second, we must bury the Death Tax once and for all. This tax will also increase significantly in the tax reductions of earlier this decade expire. The Death Tax is one of the worst, most unfair taxes ever created in America. Why would we punish Nevadans who have already earned their money, already paid taxes on that money, and now, simply seek to turn family businesses and farms down to the next generation? It is grossly unfair. To me, it is borderline criminal for families to have to sell off businesses and farms because they cannot afford the tax burden.

Finally, we should work to eliminate the capital gains tax in this country. At a time we need to create job growth, investment and prosperity, our government should not be in the double-taxation business. Like the Death Tax, the capital gains tax punishes us by taxing money we have already earned. If you earn money at your job, you pay taxes on that salary. After you pay your taxes, and you want to invest some of that personal money – money you own and you earned – at your own risk, why should the federal government hit you again if you make money on that investment? When the Republican Congress of the late 1990s finally convinced then-President Bill Clinton to sign a capital gains tax cut, revenues to the federal government sky-rocketed, despite the tired and false claims that tax cuts on capital gains would “cost” the government money.

My plan is to cut taxes to spur economic growth, job creation, investment and prosperity. Senator Reid’s plan is to use the tax code to pick winners and losers, to punish hard work and investment, and to trust Washington to spend our money better than we can spend it ourselves. Because we cannot change his mind on taxes, we’ll just have to beat him and get him out of the U.S. Senate.