An American Agenda: Vote for Your Priorities

Invite Grover Norquist to Speak at Your School or Event

INDEX

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Tuesday, March 16, 2010

Monday, March 15, 2010

Friday, March 12, 2010

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Monday, March 8, 2010

Friday, March 5, 2010

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

The reliability of spending "estimates"

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Interior Department Hides Data, Pushes Back Offshore Drilling Plan

From Brian M Johnson on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 5:49 PM

One hundred and twenty five days after the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Oil and Gas Leasing Program public comment period ended, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) has still not released the agencies findings. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request revealed that the agency has tabulated substantial comments and that they overwhelmingly support development of America’s OCS resources by a 2 to 1 ratio.

“The purpose of the comment period was to gauge the mood of the American people. And they responded, submitting over 530,000 comments, the majority of which were in favor of developing our Outer Continental Shelf,” said Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform. “It is about time the MMS came clean and publicly disclosed their findings.”

Ignoring public sentiment, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that he will delay OCS drilling until 2012; President Bush signed a plan into law that would have allowed development of America’s Outer Continental Shelf in 2010.

As a result of this activity, Rep. Griffith is gathering a coalition of House members to send a letter to Secretary Salazar expressing their opposition to his efforts to pushback OCS energy exploration.

Additional resources:

Bill McCollum Signs Taxpayer Protection Pledge in Florida Governor's Race

From Nathan Pick on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:47 PM

Attorney General Bill McCollum, a Republican running for governor of Florida, has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge sponsored by Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The Pledge is a commitment to constituents to “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.”

Currently, 7 Governors and over 1,100 state legislators have signed the State Taxpayer Protection Pledge. They join 33 Senators and 172 members of the House of Representatives who have signed the Pledge on the federal level.

“Florida residents need leaders committed to fiscal responsibility and pro-growth economic policies. I commend Bill McCollum for making a commitment to the taxpayers of Florida by signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform. “By signing the Pledge, Bill McCollum demonstrates that he understands the problems of hard-working taxpayers nationwide, but especially the taxpayers in Florida.”

ATR encourages all candidates in Florida’s gubernatorial race and down ticket races to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, making a commitment against tax increases on Floridians.

“I applaud Bill for his leadership and dedication to the ideals of limited government, and for putting taxpayers’ wallets ahead of government coffers,” added Norquist. “I strongly encourage every candidate in Florida and in elected offices throughout the country to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.”

To see a copy of the press release ATR sent out, click here.

Sen. Lincoln (D-Ark.) New Ad: I'm not working for the unions

From Brian M Johnson on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:46 PM

In a new ad, Sen. Lincoln (D-Ark.) fights back against the unions who paid for attack ads against her. Is this a sign she will vote against the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) and "card check" if it ever comes to the floor? I guess only time will tell.

Want to know what it would be like if your job got unionized? Click here to play a fun new union game!

Making Laws Should Be Transparent

From Adam Radman on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 4:30 PM

Today, the Washington Times published an op-ed by Sandra Fabry, executive director of the Center for Fiscal Accountability, on fiscal transparency. More specifically, the piece centers on waiting periods and online posting requirements before politicians can vote on a particular piece of legislation. Transparency efforts focused on the spending outcomes have experienced success in a number of states over the last few years, but the next step needs to be making waiting periods and online posting requirements a priority.

Last September, Rasmussen Reports found that 83 percent of voters said they thought legislation should be available online for everyone to view before it is voted on by Congress. Of this percentage, 64 percent said they thought the appropriate amount of time for legislation to be available was two weeks.

Here’s a brief snippet of the op-ed:

Lawmakers and activists from around the country have made (and are making) great strides toward greater transparency in government spending in recent years. More than two dozen states have enacted legislation mandating the creation of searchable online databases detailing comprehensive information on government spending, and several governors have taken executive steps to create such Web sites. (The full list of state-spending-transparency Web sites is found at FiscalAccountability.org.)

But while Americans are appreciative of their ability to better scrutinize government expenditures through such Web sites, policy developments in Washington last year have made abundantly clear that true fiscal accountability in government doesn't just focus on "outcomes" (i.e. government spending), but starts with the legislative process.

If you get a moment, I recommend checking out the full article over at the Washington Times.

Study: Health Care Legislation Will Cost up to 700,000 Jobs by 2019

From Americans for Tax Reform on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 10:21 AM

Americans for Tax Reform Foundation today released a study conducted by the Beacon Hill Institute on the job losses that will result from the passage of President Obama’s healthcare plan.

The study uses standard practices to evaluate the job loss, but assumes more realistic policy outcomes (for example, the Medicare “doc fix” is assumed to be re-enacted by Congress every year).

From the Executive Summary:

Nancy Pelosi, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, has urged passage of the massive health reform plan moving through Congress as a way to create up to 400,000 jobs. Speaker Pelosi bases her claim on a report by the Center for American Progress (CAP) in which the Center estimates that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) would create 250,000 to 400,000 jobs per year over 10 years.

This estimate by CAP amounts to a hurried effort to add academic heft to the claim that national health care reform offers a collateral benefit in the form of an economic “stimulus.” It turns out, however, that its methodology, stripped of unsupportable claims about savings in health care costs, shows just the opposite of what CAP intended. PPACA is a job killer, not a job creator.

The result is a loss of between 119,000 and 698,000 jobs between enactment of the bill this year and 2019. A breakdown is below:

Sector	ESI	Jobs
	%	Low	High
Agriculture, mining and construction
Agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting	20	-923	-5,441
Mining	68	-939	-5,478
Construction	37	-7,374	-43,316
Manufacturing	65	-18,022	-105,229
Trade
Wholesale trade	57	-8,149	-47,663
Retail trade	39	-14,364	-84,339
Transportation and communication
Transportation and warehousing	55	-6,290	-36,806
Utilities	80	-906	-5,271
Services
Information	63	-4,510	-26,342
Financial Activities	66	-13,236	-77,269
Professional and business services	44	-22,606	-132,596
Educational services	61	-5,493	-32,102
Leisure and hospitality	25	-8,436	-49,682
Other services	48	-7,946	-46,564
Totals		-119,194	-698,098

Click here for a PDF of this press release

Click here for a printable PDF of the full study

Comprehensive List of Tax Hikes in Government Health Bill to be Voted on by House

From Ryan Ellis on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 9:05 AM

[PDF Version]

Americans for Tax Reform today released the following comprehensive list of tax hikes in the government health bill to be voted on in the House this week:

(Page numbers reference ORIGINAL REID-OBAMA BILL unless noted):

Individual Mandate Excise Tax (Page 324/Sec. 1501/Jan 2014): Starting in 2014, anyone not buying “qualifying” health insurance must pay an income surtax according to the higher of the following (page 71 of manager’s amendment updates Reid bill):

	Single	2 People	3+ People
2014	$495/0.5% AGI	$990/0.5% AGI	$1485/0.5%/AGI
2015	$495/1.0% AGI	$990/1.0% AGI	$1485/1.0%/AGI
2016+	$495/2.0% AGI	$990/2.0% AGI	$1485/2.0%/AGI

Exemptions for religious objectors, undocumented immigrants, prisoners, those earning less than the poverty line, members of Indian tribes, and hardship cases (determined by HHS).

Employer Mandate Tax (Page 348/Sec. 1513/Jan 2014): If an employer does not offer health coverage, and at least one employee qualifies for a health tax credit, the employer must pay an additional non-deductible tax of $750 for all full-time employees. Applies to all employers with 50 or more employees.

If the employer requires a waiting period to enroll in coverage of 30-60 days, there is a $400 tax per employee ($600 if the period is 60 days or longer).

Click "Read More" to see the rest..

Click here for a printable PDF

Testimony Before U.S. House Appropriations Committee on Labor

From Brian M Johnson on Wednesday, March 17, 2010 8:30 AM

Today, AWF Executive Director Brian Johnson will be testifying before the Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and a hearing titled “Labor and Education Priorities/ESEA Reauthorization.”

Click here to read the longer, submitted testimony for the record.

Some of Johnson's opening comments are below and can also be found in PDF format.

Since the era of the New Deal, the Unites States has been ransacked with federal laws and regulations that burden free enterprise and business while promoting the Labor agenda. Despite the Obama Administration’s claim to be the “most transparent Presidency in history,” their actions speak louder than words.

It is clear this Department of Labor’s priorities are to protect organized labor at the expense of worker freedom and increase the regulatory burdens facing American business today.

Click "read more" to view them in full.

The Second Annual Pat Quinn Income Tax Increase Proposal

From Joshua Culling on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 6:21 PM

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn pushed for a 50 percent increase in the personal income tax last year but failed to gain any semblance of public or legislative support for the proposal. This time around, the Governor has scaled back his plan, proposing a 33 percent income tax increase that would bring the state's flat rate up to 4 percent from 3 percent.

It's clear that Quinn does not get it. The public appetite for a 33 percent tax hike is no stronger than for a 50 percent increase. While last year's proposal was indeed massive, public backlash against the 2nd Annual Pat Quinn Income Tax Increase Proposal will be no quieter this time around.

That's because Illinois taxpayers are tightening their belts to cope with the economic downturn and its corresponding 11.3 percent unemployment rate in the state. They look to the state capitol and see politicians looking to spend more, borrow more, and tax more. They see politicians unwilling to govern and eager to cut corners and make the easy decision to raise taxes.

House Speaker Michael Madigan hit the nail on the head when he said:

"Let's be straightforward about this. The people of Illinois, they don't want tax increases. They're hurting. The American economy is in bad shape. People are out of work. They don't want to hear about tax increases."

Either Gov. Quinn is misreading the polling data, or he is completely indifferent to the concerns of his consituents. For ATR's letter to the Illinois Legislature, click Read More.

How the FCC Plans to Tax the Internet

From Kelly William Cobb on Tuesday, March 16, 2010 3:42 PM

Crossposted from www.StopETaxes.com.

Today, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) released its National Broadband Plan (PDF), an outline for the federal government to become significantly more involved in universal broadband access. The plan, which the FCC estimates will cost $350 billion, claims it pays for itself (a point already called into question), but the plan itself calls for raising taxes on the Internet, as well as enacting some that have yet to exist.

First, the plan expressly calls for a digital goods tax:

Recognizing that state and local governments pursue varying approaches to raising tax revenues, a national framework for digital goods and services taxation would reduce uncertainty and remove one barrier to online entrepreneurship and investment. (pg. 58)

Instead, how about “not enacting a tax would remove one barrier to online entrepreneurship and investment”? To date, 18 states have enacted laws to tax digital goods and services, like downloaded music, books, and ringtones, within their own borders. A national framework could amount to spreading this nationwide, permitting all states to begin taxing digital goods and even allowing states to collect taxes on e-commerce made across their borders (something currently deemed unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Quill v. North Dakota).

Secondly, the National Broadband Plan calls for significant expansion of the Universal Service Fund (USF), a tax on urban and suburban consumers redistributed predominantly to rural areas. Currently, phone companies, including wireless and VoIP, “contribute” to the fund (read: are involuntarily taxed and pass the tax onto consumers). The goal is to expand this to all types of telecom service, including Internet service, and to shift this pool of money toward subsidizing the cost of broadband. The executive summary states that the FCC will “reform current universal service mechanisms to support deployment of broadband and voice,” and adds on pg. 136:

Stage Two: accelerate reform (2012–2016)

- The FCC should broaden the universal service contribution base.

Translation: tax Internet access to fund the USF as well. While it goes on to state that “the FCC should manage the total size of the USF to remain close to its current size,” this goal of fiscal responsibility is clearly last on the list of priorities. Five days ago, just before the plan was announced, the FCC raised the USF tax to 15.3% – a record high. The USF started at only about 5.5% in 1998 and rose by 4% over the next decade. Since President Obama’s new FCC took over in 2009, it’s risen by 5.8%.

More after the jump...

Wisconsin Gubernatorial Candidate Scott Walker Signs Taxpayer Protection Pledge

From Joshua Culling on Monday, March 15, 2010 5:35 PM

Last week, Milwaukee County Executive and Wisconsin gubernatorial candidate Scott Walker pledged to oppose any attempts to raise taxes should he be the next Governor. By signing ATR's Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Walker represents a departure from current Gov. Doyle, a failed tax-and-spender throughout his tenure.

Doyle recently raised tobacco taxes $355 million, telephone taxes $100 million, income taxes $287 million, capital gains taxes $242 million, and hospital taxes $854 million. He also voluntarily drove up the cost of health insurance courtesy of a $490 million tax increase on insurance companies, nursing homes, and surgical centers.

Wisconsin needs a new direction. The state's unemployment rate is high; its oppressive tax burden is a deterrant to investment, job creation, and economic growth. By signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, Scott Walker has show he understands the perils of Gov. Doyle's tax-and-spend agenda. Gov. Walker would not make the same mistakes.

Visit Scott's campaign site here. For ATR's press release on Scott's commitment to Wisconsin taxpayers, click Read More.

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