Because each person has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market, and because government interference can only harm such free activity, we oppose all intervention by government into the area of economics. The only proper role of the State of Georgia and her political subdivisions in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected.

Efforts to redistribute wealth or manage trade through the coercive power of the state are incompatible with individual freedom. Government manipulation of the economy creates an entrenched privileged class -- those with access to tax money -- and an exploited class -- those who are net taxpayers.

1. THE ECONOMY

We wholeheartedly believe that free markets are the engine of individual liberty. Government intervention in the economy imperils both that freedom and the material prosperity of all. We therefore support the following specific immediate reforms: drastic reduction of both taxes and state spending; an end to deficit budgets; the removal of all governmental impediments to free trade; and the repeal of all controls on wages, prices, rents, profits, and production.

2. TAXATION

Since we believe that all persons are entitled to keep the fruits of their labor, we see no moral difference between common theft and the forcible collection of money or goods from individuals at all levels of government. Specifically, we:

1. recognize the right of any individual to challenge the payment of taxes on moral, religious, legal, or constitutional grounds;
2. oppose all personal and corporate income taxation, including capital gains taxes;
3. oppose estate taxation as a particular assault on families;
4. support the repeal of the 16th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and the eventual elimination of all taxation;
5. support unconditional amnesty for all individuals who are accused, or have ever been convicted, of tax resistance; and
6. oppose all increases in the rate of taxation or categories of taxpayers, including the elimination of deductions, exemptions, or credits in the spurious name of "fairness," "simplicity," or alleged "neutrality to the free market." No tax can ever be fair, simple, or neutral to the free market.
7. oppose as involuntary servitude any legal requirements forcing employers or business owners to serve as tax collectors for federal, state, or local tax agencies.
8. oppose any ‘consolidation’ or shifting of existing taxing authority from local governments to higherlevels.

As an interim measure, all criminal and civil sanctions against tax evasion should be terminated immediately.

In the event of fiscal crisis at any jurisdiction, default is preferable to raising taxes or perpetual refinancing of growing public debt.

3. GOVERNMENT DEBT

We support requiring a balanced state budget. To be effective, a balanced budget amendment should provide:

1. that neither the legislature nor the Governor be permitted to override this requirement;
2. that all off-budget items are included in the budget;
3. that the budget is balanced exclusively by cutting expenditures, and not by raising taxes; and
4. that no exception be made for periods of fiscal emergency created by government itself.

Governments facing fiscal crises should choose to default in preference to raising taxes.

4. MONOPOLIES

We distinguish between de facto monopolies where competition is possible but absent, and coercive monopolies. We condemn all coercive monopolies, but recognize that government is their primary source, through its grants of legal privilege to special interests in the economy. In order to abolish coercive monopolies, we advocate a strict separation of business and State.

We defend the right of individuals to form corporations, cooperatives, and other types of companies based on voluntary association. Laws of incorporation should not include grants of monopoly privilege. At the same time, we oppose special limits on the liability of corporations for damages caused in non-contractual transactions. We also oppose state limits on the size of private companies and on the right of companies to merge.

5. SUBSIDIES

In a free state, government should not be allowed to victimize any individual or interest for the benefit of any other. Therefore we oppose each and every government subsidy -- to business, labor, education, agriculture, science, the arts, sports, broadcasting, or any other special interest. The unrestricted competition of the free market is the best way to foster prosperity.

The loans of government-sponsored enterprises, even when not guaranteed by the government, constitute another form of subsidy. All such enterprises must either be abolished or completely privatized.

Relief or exemption from taxation or from any other involuntary government intervention, however, is not a subsidy; we call that freedom and we look forward to the day when freedom is extended to all.

6. PUBLIC UTILITIES

We advocate the termination of government-created monopolies and franchise privileges such as park management, garbage collection, fire protection, electricity, natural gas, cable television, telephone, or water supplies. Furthermore, all rate regulation in these industries should be abolished. The right to offer such services on the market should not be curtailed by law. We support true privatization of as much State property and services as possible, not the mere sub-contracting of state capitalism. The contracting of private concessions is but a first step; we believe the state should not own any recreational facilities, hotels, parks or other facilities that could be provided by private enterprises.

7. UNIONS AND COLLECTIVE BARGAINING

We support the right of free persons to voluntarily establish, associate in, or not associate in, labor unions. An employer should have the right to recognize, or refuse to recognize, a union as the collective bargaining agent of some, or all, of its employees. As such, we applaud the legislature for maintaining Georgia as a right to work state.

We oppose government interference in bargaining, such as compulsory arbitration or the imposition of an obligation to bargain. We also oppose all government back-to-work orders as the imposition of a form of forced labor. The exemption from anti-trust laws granted to labor unions is another government interference; this exemption should be universal, or failing that, should be eliminated.

Government-mandated waiting periods for closing factories or businesses hurt wage-earners, rather than help them. We support all efforts to benefit workers, owners, and management by keeping government out of this area.

Workers and employers should have the right to organize secondary boycotts if they so choose. Nevertheless, boycotts or strikes do not justify the initiation of violence against other workers, employers, strike-breakers, and innocent bystanders.