Oct. 9 Republican debate transcript

Bartiromo: Ladies and gentlemen, we ask you please to refrain from the applause so that we can get as much time as possible with the candidates. Thank you so much.

Senator Brownback, are you prepared to say categorically that under a Brownback administration, there will not be a tax increase?

Sam Brownback: Yes. And I'd like to use the rest of my answer and time -- (laughter) -- to talk about some other things, because clearly, the last thing we need to do is raise taxes in this country. Currently the country now, the average citizen works until the first part, middle, of May just to pay their taxes? We're taxed to the max.

I think it's not enough just to say I'm not going to raise taxes. What should we go to differently? Because the current tax code really is an abomination. People don't understand it. It's manipulative. It's Washington trying to direct people's lives.

So I've put forward a proposal of an optional flat tax, and putting that on the table, saying, okay, you can pick this. If you want to stay in the code, go ahead, God bless you, but here's an optional flat tax. Sixteen countries around the world have gone to the flat tax. Nobody's gone back away from it, because it creates growth, it creates growth in the economy, and it increases revenue for the government.

And we also -- we have to get spending under control. Here you've got to change the system. And I've been around it long enough to see that Republicans or Democrats in control -- the system is built to spend. I have constituents come in all the time to my office, and they say, "I'm a conservative, but could we have this bridge? How about this hospital?" They never say, "We've got too much federal money; would you please cut it?" Nobody's ever told me that. So I think we need to take that BRAC military process for base closings, apply it to the rest of government, so you have an annual process for culling federal spending that requires a vote of Congress.

Bartiromo: So name one program you would cut.

Brownback: Advanced Technology Program would be a good one to start with. It goes towards high-end spending, corporate welfare programs. There's an abundance of those that we've gone at. I worked with Senator McCain -- a number of us did. But cutting spending is tough to do because you always got somebody pushing back and seeking more. That's why you got to change the system, so that it regularly requires a vote of Congress on things to cut. That's what'll actually reduce spending.

Bartiromo: Congressman Tancredo, same question. Are you prepared to say categorically that under your administration, there will be no tax increase?

Tom Tancredo: Absolutely. I'll take the oath. The fact is this, that when we talk about spending cuts, which everybody, I think, on this stage, adheres to and certainly pays lip service to, we have to think about what exactly it is that pushes spending at the federal level, and believe it or not, it isn't even earmarks.

I'm all for dumping them. It's okay with me. But don't think for a moment that if we did it tomorrow, all of a sudden, we'd have a balanced budget. Of course, we would not, because the thing that pushes spending at the federal level is mandatory spending. It's two things really -- Medicare, Social Security.

Now, you can cut the entire budget, the discretionary budget. You could cut the whole thing out and only come close -- well, you'd cut the deficit pretty significantly. But frankly you really want to do without funding for the armed services? And that's exactly what we're talking about in the discretionary side. It's about $700 billion out of a three-point trillion-dollar budget.

If you want to control federal spending, you must look at Social Security and Medicare, and it's a dicey game. I know the president tried. I give him credit for at least getting out there, touching that third rail, getting burned by it. He did, jumped back immediately.

But the reality is this: If you don't do it, forget about all this talk about reducing federal spending. It's not going to happen. You better address Social Security. You better come up with a way to allow for private Social Security accounts, structurally fix both of those things, or forget the idea of ending deficit spending.

Matthews: Mayor Giuliani and Governor Romney, these are 30- second answers.
You've been having a tit-for-tat on tax cutting. What's the difference between the two of you? Your Honor first.

Giuliani: I cut taxes 23 times when I was mayor of New York City. I believe in tax cuts. I believe in being a supply-sider. I cut the income tax -- I think it was 24 percent. We got 42 percent more revenues.

I see in The Wall Street Journal this morning an editorial that says: Can we take the good news that the tax cuts have actually worked to produce about $500 billion in additional revenue no one ever thought was possible?

So it's something that I believe in from results. I cut taxes by over $9 billion. I didn't cut every tax. You can't possibly cut every tax, as I think Congressman Tancredo pointed out. You need money for police. You need money for military. But I cut, I think, as many taxes as you possibly could in that period of time. And George Will said I ran the most conservative government from that point of view in the last 40 or 50 years, in the entire country.