Americans for Tax Reform

Americans for Tax Reform
Abbreviation	ATR
Formation	1985
Type	Advocacy group
Headquarters	722 12th Street NW
Location	Washington, D.C.
Region served	United States
President	Grover Norquist
Website	http://www.atr.org

Americans for Tax Reform is an advocacy group and taxpayer group whose stated goal is "a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized." It is best known for its "Taxpayer Protection Pledge," which asks candidates for federal and state office to commit themselves in writing to oppose all tax increases. Its founder and president is Grover Norquist, a conservative tax activist.

Projects

Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Since 1986, ATR has sponsored the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge", a written promise by legislators and candidates for office that commits them to oppose tax increases. There are separate versions at the national and state level.

In the version for the U.S. House of Representatives, the signer pledges to:

ONE, oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and

TWO, oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.

In the version for state legislators, the signer pledges that:

I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.

In the 112th Congress serving from 2011-2, 238 members of the U.S. House of Representatives - a majority of that body - as well as 41 members of the U.S. Senate have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. All except 13 sitting Republicans have signed the pledge, while three Democrats have signed it (Sen. Ben Nelson (NE) and House members Robert Andrews (NJ) and Ben Chandler (KY)).

ATR's president Grover Norquist has written about the importance of the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" for many publications including Human Events in June, 2010. In this article, Grover writes,

"Raising taxes is what politicians do when they don’t have the strength to actually govern. The taxpayer protection pledge was created in 1986 by Americans for Tax Reform as part of the effort to protect the lower marginal tax rates of Reagan’s Tax Reform Act of 1986. It has grown in importance as one of the few black-and-white, yes or no, answers that politicians are forced to give to voters before they ask for their vote."

Author and political commentator Dick Morris repeatedly wrote about the value of the "Taxpayer Protection Pledge" during the 2010 election cycle. He first began writing about the Pledge in April while discussing his book 2010: Take Back America-A Battle Plan. Morris argued that the most vital issue to America in 2011 would be fighting the deficit. He wrote,

"Here is where the Republicans’ new Congressional majorities must hold the line. Every single GOP member of the House and the Senate must make a firm commitment to oppose any and all tax increases. In the coming Congressional and Senatorial primaries, it is our duty as voters to support only those Republicans who sign the no-tax pledge of the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR.org)."

Morris also used the Pledge as the deciding reason for his endorsement of Carly Fiorina in the Republican U.S. Senate primary in California. Morris wrote an open memo to Republican candidate Tom Campbell asking him to sign the Pledge. After Campbell's refusal, Morris endorsed Fiorina on Fox News with Sean Hannity.

The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and individual Democratic candidates began attacking "The Taxpayer Protection Pledge" and its signers during the 2010 cycle with charges that it protected tax breaks for companines shipping jobs overseas. The first appearance of the argument arose in the HI-01 special election. Americans for Tax Reform responded by calling the attack ad "blatantly false." They pointed out that the Pledge does not prohibit any deduction or credit from being eliminated. It only prevents individuals and/or businesses from experiencing an overall increase in income taxes and allows for revenue-neutral tax reform.

The non-partisan, nonprofit Factcheck.org reviewed the DCCC's ad and agreed with ATR that the ad was "blatantly false." The director of Factcheck.org, Brooks Jackson, wrote, :"It was called 'blatantly false' by Americans for Tax Reform, the Republican-leaning group that got Djou’s signature on its anti-tax pledge. We agree. ATR’s tax pledge does protect corporations in general — but only from an overall increase in taxes. It says nothing about jobs at all. More important, it does not rule out an overhaul of the tax code. Signers agree to oppose any "net" reduction of deductions or credits "unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates."

Ronald Reagan Legacy Project

Created in 1997, ATR's Ronald Reagan Legacy Project, has worked toward seeing each county in the United States commemorate the former president in a "significant" and "public" way, such as the naming of a public building. The project has also supported efforts to place Reagan on the ten-dollar bill. The project has also encouraged state governors declare February 6 to be "Ronald Reagan Day"; as of 2006, 40 governors have done so.

Center for Fiscal Accountability

Since 2008, ATR has sought to encourage transparency and accountability in government through the Center for Fiscal Accountability. The organization's mission includes supporting the creation of searchable online databases of government spending, among other initiatives.

Cost of Government Day

ATR sponsors the calculation of "Cost of Government Day", the day on which, by its calculations, "Americans stop working to pay the costs of taxation, deficit spending, and regulations by federal and state governments." Since 2008 the event has been sponsored by the Center for Fiscal Accountability.

Property Rights Alliance

The "Property Rights Alliance" is a project of Americans for Tax Reform. It produces the International Property Rights Index annually, ranking individual rights to own private property in countries worldwide.

Other projects

ATR has several special project lines dedicated to specific issues including The American Shareholders Association (ASA), Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), and The Media Freedom Project (MFP).

In October 2010 ATR began mailing fliers to voters in Florida directing them to call Florida governor and Independent candidate for Senate, Charlie Crist. ATR's mailers included pictures of Crist with Obama and quotes from right wing authors.

Wednesday meetings

Shortly after Bill Clinton's 1992 election, ATR headquarters became the site of a weekly, off-the-record get-together of conservatives to coordinate activities and strategy. The "Wednesday Meeting" of the Leave Us Alone Coalition soon became an important hub of conservative political organizing. Participants each week include Republican congressional leaders, right-leaning think tanks, conservative advocacy groups and K Street lobbyists. George W. Bush began sending a representative to the Wednesday Meeting even before he formally announced his candidacy for president in 1999, and continued to send representatives after his election in 2000.

ATR has helped to establish regular meetings for conservatives nationwide, modeled after the Wednesday meetings in Washington, with the goal of creating a nationwide network of conservative activists to help support initiatives such as tax cuts and deregulation. There are now meetings in 48 states and more internationally, with meetings in Canada, Austria, Belgium, Croatia, France, Italy, Japan, Spain, and the United Kingdom.

The significance of the Wednesday meeting has influenced liberals and Democrats to organize similar meetings to coordinate activities about their shared agenda. In 2001, USA Today reported that Rep. Rosa DeLauro initiated such a meeting at the urging of then-House Democratic leader Richard Gephardt, even holding it on a Wednesday.

Political positions

The primary policy goal of Americans for Tax Reform is to reduce the percentage of the GDP consumed by the government. ATR states that it "opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle." Americans for Tax Reform seeks to curtail government spending by supporting Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) legislation and transparency initiatives, and opposing cap-and-trade legislation and Democratic efforts to overhaul health care.

ATR is a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, which takes the position in the global warming controversy that "the science of global warming is uncertain, but the negative impacts of global warming policies on consumers are all too real". ATR supported the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 and continues to favor a comprehensive immigration reform bill.

ATR has called for cuts in the defense budget in order to reduce deficit spending.

Involvement with Jack Abramoff

According to an investigative report from the Senate Indian Affairs Committee on the Jack Abramoff scandal, released in June 2006, ATR served as a "conduit" for funds that flowed from Abramoff's clients to finance surreptitiously grass-roots lobbying campaigns. Records show that donations from the Choctaw and Kickapoo tribes to ATR were coordinated in part by Abramoff, and in some cases preceded meetings between the tribes and the White House.

See also

• Americans for Fair Taxation
• Citizens for Tax Justice
• National Taxpayers Union
• Tax Foundation

External links

• Americans for Tax Reform
• ATR's Congressional Ratings and Awards