Support for Tax Reform and Spending Restraint Continues to Grow

Americans for Tax Reform ^ | 4/01/04 | Jason Saine

[Jason Saine]

ATR Release 3/31/2004

Support for Tax Reform and Spending Restraint Continues to Grow

In North Carolina 5th Congressional District Taxes and Spending Dominate

WASHINGTON - North, South, East, and West, taxes continue to dominate political discussion in America . Voters in Alabama , California , and Oregon have rejected tax increases. President Bush and Sen. John Kerry talk about taxes every day. And without question, this will also play out in Congressional races throughout the country.

Case in point: North Carolina 's 5 th District. A plan put forward by candidate Nathan Tabor, an Americans for Tax Reform pledge signer, builds upon the tax cuts put into place by President Bush and further protects taxpayers by limiting the ability of Congress to impose unnecessary tax increases and restraining government spending in the future.

Tabor's namesake legislation, The Taxpayer Bill of Rights (TABOR) includes important institutional changes to government tax and spending policy. First, the plan would require a two-thirds supermajority for Congress to raise taxes while limiting domestic spending to the rate of inflation, allowing the President to have a line item veto, and a review the performance of government agencies every five years.

“President Bush and Congress have lowered taxes three times in three years, and we have seen plenty of strong efforts at the state level,” said taxpayer advocate Grover Norquist , who heads Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) in Washington , DC . “But finding ways to control the out-of-control spending that plagues Washington and state capitals across the country should be the prime directive of the center-right movement. Nathan Tabor has promoted a fine idea that would do wonders for the country and the Tarheel state,” he continued. ATR is widely considered the most influential taxpayer advocacy organization in America .

Additionally, the plan calls for eliminating the Death Tax and the marriage penalty with the ultimate goal of fundamental tax reform.

“The spending lobby continues to ask for higher taxes and to ignore profligate spending,” continued Norquist. “Tabor's legislation forces policymakers to do what they're elected to do: Govern.”

Americans for Tax Reform is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who oppose all federal and state tax increases.