WASHINGTON- Former United States Senator Mack Mattingly (R-Ga.) has signed Americans for Tax Reform\’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge, while interim Senator Zell Miller (D-Ga.) has refused to take the same pledge.
The Pledge states:
"I, ____________, pledge to the taxpayers of the state of Georgia that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes."
Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, issued the following statement commending Mattingly for signing the Pledge:
"In the race to fill the seat in the United States Senate left vacant earlier this year by the untimely death of Sen. Paul Coverdell, Mack Mattingly is the only major candidate who has signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.
"During his time in the Senate, Sen. Coverdell established himself as a friend of taxpayers. In so doing, Coverdell established a tradition that all future Senators from Georgia should follow: putting the interests of taxpayers first. Mack Mattingly will continue the tradition that Sen. Coverdell established by working to protect the hardworking taxpayers of Georgia from higher taxes.
"Sen. Coverdell signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge and consistently scored 85 or higher in our Tax Ratings. Mr. Mattingly, by signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, has taken the first step that is necessary to continue the tradition established by Sen. Coverdell.
"We have requested that Mr. Miller sign the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, but he has refused to do so up to this point in time. Based on Mr. Miller\’s history of raising all sorts of user and license fees in Georgia in the early 1990s, it is probably safe to assume he won\’t sign the Pledge to commit himself to protect the taxpayers of Georgia from future tax increases."