Pennsylvania has the 15th-highest state and local tax burden in the country. The state took in $3.9 billion in May, a whopping $1.6 billion more than expected – and is forecasted to have a $3.16 billion revenue surplus this fiscal year.

There is no shortage of tax revenue for Harrisburg to spend, the state is taking a big cut of the earnings of Pennsylvanians. But the editorial board of the Scranton Times-Tribune thinks taxes on Pennsylvania families and businesses should be higher, not lower.

After Republican Gubernatorial candidate, and former Congressman, Lou Barletta committed to Pennsylvanians that he will not raise their taxes if elected, the Times-Tribune published an editorial misleading their  readers about the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, and clamoring for tax hikes.

The pledge is a written commitment made to voters that states a candidate or officeholder will oppose any net tax hike. Contrary to the paper’s claim that the pledge would limit Barletta’s ability to pursue tax reform, the pledge allows for any tax reform that is revenue-neutral. The pledge is a guardrail that allows lawmakers to pursue tax reform knowing a net tax increase is off the table. Anyone can read the pledge at ATR.org. The Scranton Times chose not to look up the facts.

The Scranton Times is not the first to make inaccurate claims that the pledge prevents tax reform compromises where a change increasing revenues is offset with a corresponding reduction in tax burden elsewhere.

These types of false charges have been disproved when examined by multiple fact checkers.  

Among numerous examples of revenue-neutral tax deals, just this past legislative session in Florida, the legislature approved a tax reform package that added an online sales tax collection requirement for businesses, which was fully offset by a reduction in the commercial rent tax. This compromise complied with the Taxpayer Protection Pledge commitment that was made by Governor DeSantis and dozens of  Pledge Signing state legislators.

On top of false claims about the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, the paper sells out the taxpayers of their own state.

The editorial board claims local property tax hikes can only be mitigated by the state government paying off localities to limit the increases. Surely the local governments and citizens approving property tax increases have some say? Are Pennsylvania mayors unable to reform their governments to cost citizens less?

Furthermore, they ignore great reforms like Truth in Taxation, and strong caps on property tax increases, that have proven effective in limiting property tax growth in other states.

On top of whiffing on property taxes, the editorial board wants Harrisburg to raise Pennsylvania’s gas tax, again. The state gas tax is third-highest in the U.S. behind only California, and Illinois. Increasing this regressive tax on going to work, yet again, would be disastrous. The Times’ editorial board should question what has been happening with all that extra gas tax money if they truly believe roads are “stressed.”

With billions of dollars in excess revenue, and model legislation to follow from states across the U.S., any Pennsylvania elected official should be able sign the Taxpayer Protection and and also keep the roads together, and pursue property tax reform, without increasing the overall tax burden.

In the next few days, the Senate will vote on confirmation of Rohit Chopra to serve as the next director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). Americans for Tax Reform opposes Chopra’s nomination and urges all senators to vote against Chopra’s final confirmation.

Chopra is a far-left acolyte of Elizabeth Warren who will expand the size, scope, and authority of the CFPB to the greatest extent possible.

Chopra currently serves as a commissioner at the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), but he has previously held positions at the CFPB as an assistant director, student loan ombudsman, and policy advisor.

Chopra is no friend to private industry. Under Chopra’s leadership, the CFPB will strictly enforce rulemakings that impose burdensome reporting requirements on financial institutions. For example, Chopra will likely severely enforce the mandates in the CFPB’s rule to collect certain data from small businesses pursuant to section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.

Chopra is also likely to increase enforcement actions against financial technology companies and mortgage lenders, stifling innovation and expanding the federal government’s reach into private loan agreements.

Additionally, Chopra has been rightly scrutinized by Ranking Member Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) of the Banking Committee for failing to respond to inquiries about the Biden administration’s potentially unlawful removal of CFPB career staffers from their positions in favor of replacing them with Democratic loyalists.  

Chopra never responded to Senator Toomey’s inquiry about whether he was involved in the removal of high-level career staffers. Failure to respond during the nomination process is enough by itself to be disqualified. Moreover, Chopra’s unresponsiveness foreshadows he is likely to be unaccountable to Congress just as the agency has been since its inception.    

The CFPB is an independent agency created by the politically divisive Dodd-Frank. The agency is structurally different from other independent agencies because it has a sole director leading the agency unlike most independent agencies, which have multiple commissioners and a chair. The CFPB is also not funded via Congressional appropriations, but by the Federal Reserve.

On Tuesday night, the Senate moved forward with turning the CFPB into a weapon for far-left Democrats. Senators voted in favor of discharging Rohit Chopra’s nomination from the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 49-48. Only Democrats voted in favor of considering his nomination for full confirmation.

In March, the Senate Banking Committee voted along party lines, ending up in a tie vote of 12-12. This tie vote in committee is why the Senate needed to vote on a motion to discharge to the full Senate.

Senate confirmation of Chopra will put a radical liberal at the helm of a redundant federal agency with no Congressional accountability.

Senators should vote NO on Chopra.

Americans for Tax Reform on Monday released a new coalition letter signed by 11 free-market organizations calling on the Biden administration to pursue free trade agreements with more countries.

The letter requested that President Biden prioritize free trade agreements with the United Kingdom and Taiwan, as well as pursue accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The letter highlights benefits of free trade agreements, such as the fact that “trade agreements increased GDP by $88 billion, increased trade by $1.3 trillion, and helped create 485,000 jobs.” It further explains that trade agreements which promote free-market rules ensure “American innovators, exporters, and workers are treated fairly abroad.”

For example, the Reagan administration pushed for a global minimum standard of intellectual property protection; ultimately the world agreed and signed the TRIPS agreement. Without such protections, the R&D and licensing agreements between innovators and manufacturers of life-saving COVID-19 vaccines may not have been possible.

Yet, the letter argues, more needs to be done to protect IP. Coerced transfers and other violations of American intellectual property rights continue to proliferate globally. Trade agreements are the proper venue to advance enforceable protections.

The letter underscores that free trade agreements are a highly bipartisan issue in the United States. It states, “The Uruguay Round negotiations and NAFTA negotiations both started under Republican Administrations but were completed by a Democratic Administration.”

The letter calls on the Biden administration to “engage boldly with our trading partners to extend the benefits of free trade: defend the free-flow of data, remove burdensome tariff and non-tariff barriers, secure the next-generation IP protections, and address how state-owned enterprises and trade-distorting subsidies adversely affect open-market economies.”

Finally, the letter concludes, “Trade agreements are mutually beneficial exchanges that create win-win transactions for all countries involved. There are no losers, only winners. Trade helps strengthen the free world.”

Click here to read the full letter. 

In an interview on Fox Business Network’s ‘Fox Business Tonight,’ ATR President Grover Norquist highlighted several troubling aspects of Democrats' $3.5 trillion reconciliation package. Specifically, he warned of Democrats’ plans to impose drug price controls based on international prices, creating a 95 percent excise tax on manufacturers that do not sell drugs at the government-set price. Additionally, he warned of Democrats' plan to give the IRS access to the inflows and outflows of virtually every American’s financial accounts.  

Norquist also references back to 1966 and other moments in history, when Democrats’ tax-and-spend sprees resulted in major political losses. 

Click here to watch the entire interview. 

Norquist explains how the proposal to impose a 95 percent excise tax and international reference pricing scheme on American drug manufacturers will ship medical innovation and discovery overseas:

“Sinema, the Senator from Arizona, has said that we just can’t do this massive power grab that the Democrats want on pharmaceuticals. This basically would end American leadership on drugs because we’d tax it so heavily that people who’d want to come up with new drugs for cancer would do it in Switzerland, not in the United States.” 

Norquist on the creation of a new financial account reporting regime which would force the disclosure of any business or personal account that exceeds $600, including bank accounts, loan accounts, investment accounts, and third-party payment providers like Venmo and CashApp:

“You will lose your financial privacy, your personal privacy. They want to know what your Venmo is doing, what your PayPal is doing, what your CashApp is doing. They used to say, “We want to know if you’re moving $10,000 or more in cash around.” Then, it turns out they’re really abusing that, even though it sounds sort of reasonable – how many people move around $10,000 in cash? Well, a lot of small businesses do at the end of a week. [The IRS] would just go through people’s lives; they would hold onto their money even if nothing had gone wrong… They’re now talking about, not $10,000, but $600… If you have $600 in your account, they want to know everything there is to know about that account. And they don’t keep secrets very well at the IRS.” 

Norquist on the failure of the Great Society and its political ramifications, and how this signals major losses for Democrats across the country if they move forward with their $3.5 trillion blowout: 

“They’re looking at 1966, after the Great New Deal was passed – all these ‘wonderful spending programs’ with all the same promises that we’re told now: the government is going to do everything for you. We spent $27 trillion and I’m not sure you can show very much that we accomplished because of the Great Society. But one thing that happened is the Democrats lost dozens and dozens of House members… When the Democrats have overreached on taxes and spending, in 1966 they got slapped heavily, and then Nixon got elected in 1968, same thing happened in 1994, and same thing happened in 2010. There are a lot of Democrats out there who realize they’re being pushed into traffic.”