With Congress currently molding the Farm Bill, ATR was mentioned in a press release by Senator Dan Coats of Indiana: “Coats Calls for Sugar Reform, Planting Flexibility During Farm Bill Debate”
“America’s sugar policies may benefit a select group of producers, but it exacts a terrible toll on the economy as a whole. According to Americans for Tax Reform, the largest 1% of sugar growers claim 42% of the sugar program’s benefits. Furthermore, the Department of Commerce found that for each job ‘saved’ by the sugar program, three jobs are lost in the manufacturing sector as confectioners move their facilities to countries, such as Canada and Mexico, where the price of sugar is one-half to two-thirds the price in the United States.”
An Editorial by The Washington Examiner proclaims that the loss of jobs in Maryland is due to higher taxes, an outcome that ATR warned the state about:
“But after four years under Obama's economic policies and six years as Maryland's chief executive, O'Malley was still blaming former President George W. Bush as late as last September. Hogan says the real cause for April's uptick in unemployment is 40 consecutive tax and fee hikes enacted under O'Malley, which already take a $9.5 billion bite out of the state economy. This year's $800 million gas tax increase and built-in escalations will more than double that tax burden by 2018.”
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