Americans for Tax Reform
Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is an American lobby group , advocacy group and think tank based in Washington, whose aim, according to its own statements, is a tax system that is "simpler, flatter and more visible than the current tax system".
ATR was founded in 1985 by the Ronald Reagan administration . Co-founder and president is conservative tax activist Grover Norquist . The original purpose of the initiative was to support a legislative initiative by President Reagan to lower the top income tax rate , but with moderate success. Today, however, ATR is considered to be one of the most influential interest groups in the USA: The German Financial Times described ATR President Norquist 2011 as " Obama's most dangerous opponent" in the 2011 budget crisis .
Taxpayer Protection Pledge
Since 1986 the organization has been campaigning for the Taxpayer Protection Pledge , a written pledge in which a member of parliament or a candidate for the office of member of parliament undertakes to vote against tax increases. There are different versions of the oath.
In July 2011, there were 235 MPs and 41 Senators in the 112th United States Congress who signed the oath. On the subject of tax increases, ATR President Norquist wrote in 2009:
- “Raising taxes is what politicians do when they don't have the strength to actually govern. The taxpayer protection pledge was created in 1986 by Americans for Tax Reform as part of the effort to protect the lower marginal tax rates of Reagan's Tax Reform Act of 1986. It has grown in importance as one of the few black-and-white, yes or no, answers that politicians are forced to give to voters before they ask for their vote. "
The Taxpayer Protection Pledge has become an important election campaign tool. Conservative and libertarian voters are openly urged by political commentators such as Dick Morris not to support candidates in the primary who have signed the oath.
The Wednesday meetings
After Bill Clinton's election as President of the United States, ATR began organizing an informal gathering of conservative politicians every Wednesday mornings to discuss political strategies.
The Wednesday meeting of the so-called Leave Us Alone Coalition of homeschoolers , gun rights and tax activists quickly became a fixed date for conservative politicians, think tanks, conservative groups and lobby groups and is today an important aspect in the development of the so-called tea party Movement . Wednesday meetings are usually chaired by Grover Norquist.
Following the example of the Washington Wednesday meeting, other conservative groups have also organized themselves in the USA and also meet on Wednesdays.
Projects
- Ronald Reagan Legacy Project , a project that promotes an "appropriate" public recognition of former US President Ronald Reagan in every US county and every former communist country.
- International Property Rights Index , a project that measures the protection of so-called "property rights" and compares them internationally.
- Cost of Government Day , an internal memorial day up to which, according to the calculation of the organization, the citizen works for the state (see Taxpayer Remembrance Day ).
Connection to other groups and organizations
ATR is a member of the Cooler Heads Coalition, the climate protection measures declines and the impact and the evidence of the existence of climate change denies .
In addition, there are links to specific projects that address specific issues, including the American Shareholders Association (ASA), the union-critical Alliance for Worker Freedom (AWF), and the market-friendly and regulatory-critical The Media Freedom Project (MFP).
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Americans for Tax Reform - Mission , accessed July 29, 2011.
- ^ A b c d e John Cassidy, Wednesdays With Grover , in: The New Yorker, accessed July 29, 2011
- ↑ Head of the day: Grover Norquist - Obama's most dangerous opponent ( July 3, 2013 memento in the Internet Archive ), accessed July 29, 2011
- ↑ Federal Taxpayer Protection Pledge Q & A ( Memento of the original from June 16, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (PDF; 83 kB) accessed July 28, 2011
- ↑ ATR, signatory of the Taxpayers Protection Pledge in the 112th Congress of the United States of America (PDF; 214 kB), accessed: July 29, 2011
- ↑ Grover Norquist: Anti-Tax Pledge Takes on Urgency ( Memento of the original from June 17, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , in: Human Events, June 22, 2009
- ↑ Patrick Welter, Tea Party Republicans - The opponents of a debt compromise , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of July 29, 2011.
- ↑ Ronald Reagan Legacy Project Retrieved July 29, 2011
- ↑ International Property Rights Index, accessed July 29, 2011
- ↑ Cost of Government Day ( Memento of the original from July 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed: July 29, 2011
