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Friday, November 23, 2012

What is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?

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What is the Taxpayer Protection Pledge?

"It has transformed American politics." -- Jonathan Alter, Newsweek
"Signing it has become de riguer for GOP candidates running for federal or statewide offices across the country." -- The Hill
"Americans for Tax Reform's Taxpayer Protection Pledge has solidified opposition to tax increases in Congress and state legislatures over the years." -- Michael Barone
“The Pledge has become something of a rallying cry in conservative circles." -- National Journal
Politicians often run for office saying they won't raise taxes, but then quickly turn their backs on the taxpayer. The idea of the Pledge is simple enough: Make them put their no-new-taxes rhetoric in writing.
In the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, candidates and incumbents solemnly bind themselves to oppose any and all tax increases. While ATR has the role of promoting and monitoring the Pledge, the Taxpayer Protection Pledge is actually made to a candidate's constituents, who are entitled to know where candidates stand before sending them to the capitol. Since the Pledge is a prerequisite for many voters, it is considered binding as long as an individual holds the office for which he or she signed the Pledge.
Since its rollout with the endorsement of President Reagan in 1986, the pledge has become de rigeur for Republicans seeking office, and is a necessity for Democrats running in Republican districts.
Today the Taxpayer Protection Pledge is offered to every candidate for state office and to all incumbents. More than 1,100 state officeholders, from state representative to governor, have signed the Pledge. Statehouse tax-and-spend interests have to contend with Pledge signers in every state.
List of Pledge Signers in the 112th Congress
A total of thirty-eight Senators and 219 House members have all signed Grover Norquist’s anti-tax “Taxpayer Protection Pledge.” Recent comments by Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) indicate that he will not abide by the pledge he signed.
The Senator said on Wednesday,
“I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old pledge. If we do it [Norquist's] way, then we’ll continue in debt and I just have a disagreement with him about that.”
Senator Chambliss then said that “Norquist has no plan to pay this debt down.” However, this same Senator added that he was “willing to do the right thing and let the political consequences take care of themselves.”
Well Senator, the “right thing” in this case would be to honor your word, but since you consider your word nothing more than a “20-year-old pledge,” we see what your word is worth. In other words, you cannot be trusted Sir. Your very character is in question from here on out.
Sadly, Senator Chambliss is no better than Weekly Standard Editor Bill Kristol who also encouraged Republicans to cave and go ahead and raise taxes on the wealthy. The problem is that raising taxes without providing real spending cuts will not get us out of debt. Chambliss is merely pandering here to go along with the herd mentality, rather than stand on his pledge he made to the American people.
By the way, make a mental note if you live in Georgia. Senator Chambliss is up for re-election in 2014.
However, there is some light in the midst of all of this. Representative Steve King (R-IA), who also signed the pledge, said the GOP needs to remain firm in their opposition to tax hikes saying that he believes that Obama wants to take the country completely off the “fiscal cliff.” He added that Obama is a “Keynesian economist on steroids.”
King recalled back in February 2009 when Obama tried to sell the Republicans on his “economic stimulus” plan that Franklin D. Roosevelt didn’t spend enough money in his “New Deal.” King said that Obama believed that Roosevelt’s spending did work, but that he didn’t provide enough deficit spending!
According to King, Obama said that Roosevelt’s failure to spend more money, out of fear of debt (something normal people acknowledge would happen), he ended up creating a “recession within a depression.” He then added that unemployment went up and that Obama cheered the greatest economic stimulus arrived, World War II.
King said that he thinks Barack Obama actually believes the non-sense that he is saying. “If anybody believes that they can borrow and spend us into prosperity” then it will eventually conclude with a “socialist form of economy and government.”
Rep. King said the Republicans in the House need to be “resolute” and “hold our ground and refuse to pass anything that has a tax increase in it.” He recalled how the Republicans backed down after the 2010 elections and said it would “take the strongest of leadership” to resist doing the same during the “fiscal cliff” talks.
I suggest we call our representatives and senators and encourage them to stand firm against the Democrats on this issue. After all, we did not send them to Washington to “work together” and get along. We sent them there to represent us.


Read more: http://freedomoutpost.com/2012/11/more-signals-gop-is-about-to-cave-on-tax-hikes/#ixzz2D5w7cusq
List of Pledge Signers in the 113th Congress
U.S House Pledge
U.S. Senate Pledge
Federal Taxpayer Protection Pledge Q & A

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