Almost 225 years ago, America's forefathers fought against taxation without representation. Today, Americans have come to realize that even taxation with representation can get out of hand. The tax burden on Americans is at its highest level ever. Today, people in America's lowest tax bracket give a higher percentage of their income to taxes than wealthy families did in the first days of the income tax. In the year 2000, Americans worked more than one third of the year - from January 1 to May 3 - to pay for federal, state and local governments' direct and mandated spending.

Historically, Congress has been more likely to raise taxes than to cut spending. Between 1983 and 1993, Republican and Democratic White House and congressional leaders raised taxes six times. The 104th Congress (1994) cut spending by $53 billion, but the 105th and 106th Congresses increased spending, with little regard to the self-imposed spending cuts passed in 1997. The idea of a budget surplus has only whet politicians' appetites, as many intend to gobble up the revenue to pay for new programs instead of giving the money back to its rightful owners – the taxpayers.

Another reason elected representatives should hold off on the party hats and streamers over the "surplus" is that more money is being taken from taxpayers to finance this surplus. Revenues are at an all-time high. In 1998, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated revenues of $17.6 trillion between 2001 and 2008. The latest CBO report estimated annual revenues of $19.5 trillion for the same period. Outlay comparisons were $16.2 trillion in 1998 and $16.7 trillion in 2000. Without the increased revenue, there would be no surplus. The government isn't getting smaller; it's getting bigger, as is the tax burden on many Americans.

It is not difficult to find waste, fraud and abuse in a $1.7 trillion budget. Each year, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW) finds the most flagrant cases of mismanagement and then prepares a blueprint for eliminating them. CAGW's Prime Cuts documents pork, bureaucratic excess, corporate welfare, and poorly managed, obsolete, or duplicative programs. This year, 545 recommendations, which would save taxpayers more than $1.2 trillion in five years, include:

• Reforming government sponsored enterprises (GSEs), saving $4.9 billion over five years;

• Giving states more control over the Superfund Program, saving $3.6 billion over five years;

• Privatizing the Tennessee Valley Authority, saving $2.5 billion over five years; and

• Eliminating the Advanced Technology Project (ATP), saving $429 million over five years.

Congress directly controls only about one third of all spending dollars through discretionary, or annually appropriated spending; the rest of the money goes to entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and to pay interest on the debt. Entitlements, also called "uncontrollable spending," absorb the majority of the budget. These funds must be spent every year. Beneficiaries qualify based on age or income and usually enjoy cost-of-living-adjustments. These mandatory spending programs accounted for 55 percent of the entire federal budget in fiscal 1999, further proof that the current budget process fails to control spending. In addition, payments on interest on the debt accounted for another 13 percent of the budget. More than two thirds of the budget goes to entitlements and interest on the debt.

Many entitlement programs are rife with waste, fraud and abuse. CAGW estimates that nearly $5 billion per year is wasted in the food-stamp program due to illegal trafficking and distribution errors. And, in 1999 alone, Medicare reported approximately $13.5 billion in improper payments.

Raising taxes and relying on the increased revenue to balance the budget will only enhance the taxpayers' distrust of the federal government. Heavy reliance on taxes is like a time bomb waiting to go off. If the country is hit with a recession, the government will no longer be able to count on its supply of revenue. The government will no longer have the necessary funding to support its out-of-control spending, bringing back the era of deficit spending. The decision to increase taxes to pay for new programs, instead of cutting spending, will explode in legislators' faces, creating a huge budget deficit.

It is unfair, furthermore, to expect hard working Americans to shoulder the load of an ever-expanding government. People should be rewarded -- not punished -- for hard work. By allowing revenues to carry the burden of a balanced budget instead of cutting spending cuts to do the job, members of Congress shift their responsibility to the American people, creating an undependable and insensitive government.

The need for spending cuts stands in the way of good government. The future prosperity of the United States depends on controlling spending, not increasing the supply of tax dollars.