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Taxpayers can breathe a sigh of relief as Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers swept the competitive primary races in Indiana. Americans for Tax Reform congratulates U.S. Senate candidate Todd Young, state Sen. Jim Banks (IN-03), and businessman Trey Hollingsworth (IN-09) for their hard-fought victories last night.

Todd Young swept into Congress in 2010 during the rise of the Tea Party and committed and kept his word to the Hoosier taxpayers to oppose tax hikes. Young signed the Pledge during his time in the U.S. House and now, his run for the U.S. Senate. 

Since 2011, Sen. Jim Banks has chaired the Taxpayer Protection Caucus in the Indiana Senate. The caucus provides a single voice on tax issues among pro-taxpayer legislators and forms an entire body of legislators that believe in the same principle: no new taxes.

Banks also led the fight to repeal Indiana’s death tax. In 2012, ATR urged Indiana legislators to support Banks’ legislation to phase out this punitive tax on hardworking Hoosiers.

Trey Hollingsworth battled to victory in a heated 5-way primary against Attorney General Greg Zoeller, Businessman Robert Hall, and state Senators Erin Houchin and Brent Waltz. Of the candidates running, Greg Zoeller was the only candidate to refuse to sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. ATR focused its voter education campaign in Indiana’s ninth congressional district on Zoeller’s decision to leave the door open to higher taxes. 

Candidates running for office like to say they oppose higher taxes, but often turn their backs on the taxpayer once elected. The Taxpayer Protection Pledge requires these candidates to put their rhetoric in writing. It is offered to every candidate for state and federal office and to all incumbents. Nearly 1,400 elected officials, from state representative to governor to US Senator, have signed the Pledge.

“I want to congratulate Todd Young, Jim Banks, and Trey Hollingsworth for signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Until you take tax increases firmly off the table, true and lasting spending restraint is impossible,” said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform.

 “The American people are tired of the tax-and-spend policies coming from Washington, and they are looking for solutions that create jobs, cut government spending, and get the economy going again. Signing the Pledge is the first step in that process.”