Tag Archives: Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Latest Poll: Vast Majority Oppose Gas Tax Increase

Thursday, 18 December 2014 05:49

This article first appeared online at TheNewAmerican.com on Wednesday, December 17, 2014:

View image | gettyimages.com

A new poll from Benson Strategy Group confirms not only that most Americans don’t want an increase in their gasoline taxes but that they’re afraid Congress will enact one anyway. Coming on the heels of Republicans joining with Democrats to pass a pork-laden CRomnibus bill earlier this week, the poll’s results show that two out of every three Americans don’t want to pay more at the pump.

Those polled are likely also concerned that the recent precipitous drop in the price of gas will be seized by the Congress as an opportunity to raise the tax with minimal initial pain to drivers.

An early attempt by a safe-district liberal Democrat from Oregon, Earl Blumenauer, a year ago to raise gas taxes by 15 cents a gallon failed to gain any traction, with just one co-sponsorship coming from a House member who knew he would be retiring this year.

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Where Are the Spending Cuts?

Wednesday, 02 January 2013 11:00

Cutting your Spending

Cutting your Spending (Photo credit: Tax Credits)

The fiscal cliff “deal” about to be signed into law by President Obama is all about tax increases. This is what The One has wanted since he got into office. He wanted to overload the system so much that taxpayers would be forced to pay more. It’s more of the “leveling” required to push the US down relative to other deadbeat nations who also can’t pay their bills. The easier to be “absorbed” into the new world order run by non-elected elites. But I digress…

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the “deal” consists of $15 billion in spending cuts (over the next ten years, mind you) compared to $620 billion in new taxes – a ratio of 41:1. What a deal!

“We’ll address spending cuts later” is now the cry from sycophants like Grover Norquist. “We got a deal we can live with,” they say. “Now let’s get down to business.”

Sorry. Business is already done. That window of opportunity to hold the government accountable is closed. Obama got what he wanted. Boehner caved in. End of discussion.

I’m biased (!). But I think the fiscal cliff turned out to be a speed bump on the road to more

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Grover Norquist sells out

Tuesday, 01 January 2013 07:22

Grover Norquist - Caricature

Grover Norquist – Caricature (Photo credit: DonkeyHotey)

I really shouldn’t be surprised at this. The Scriptures say not to put my trust in man. But I wanted to believe that, of all people, Norquist – the founder of Americans for Tax Reform, the creator and promoter of the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge,” and the author of his famous quote: “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” – would be the very last person to back down on his pledge not to vote for any – any – tax increases.

Sorry to disappoint. This is from Newsmax:

Grover Norquist, the influential president of Americans for Tax Reform, said he would support a plan, negotiated by Vice President Joe Biden and House Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, to resolve the fiscal cliff drama.

And the plan?

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This is what a RINO sounds like when selling us down the river

Wednesday, 26 December 2012 11:00

Pete Sessions is a RINO. How do I know? I begin by checking his Freedom Index rating. It rates politicians on how closely they follow their oath of office to uphold, support and defend the Constitution:

This voting index is currently published twice a year in The New American magazine. Each index scores all 535 members of Congress on 10 key votes on a scale of 0% to 100%. The more the Representatives and Senators adhere to the Constitution in their votes, the higher their scores on this index.

Sessions’ index rating is 65. One-third of the time he

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Obama reveals his agenda, again

Saturday, 22 December 2012 15:00

An average soul perusing the headlines from yesterday would most likely miss Obama’s use of words to indicate where he wants to take us. Listen to what he said about the negotiations over the fiscal cliff:

Everybody’s got to give a little bit in a sensible way. We move forward together, or we don’t move forward at all.

Uh huh. We have to “move forward.” What’s that all about?

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House Speaker Boehner Offers Plan B with Tax Increases

Wednesday, 19 December 2012 19:00

On Tuesday, December 18^th, Republican House Speaker John Boehner spelled out some of the details on his “Plan B” offer to the White House in case Plan A goes nowhere. It appears that Plan B will go nowhere as well, but not because of resistance from the White House, but from other House Republicans who are intent on keeping their word.

According to Boehner’s office, Plan B “Does not raise taxes. It is a net tax cut that prevents a $4.6 trillion tax hike on January 1.”

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Who is Grover Norquist, Really?

Tuesday, 04 December 2012 07:29

English: at CPAC in .

English: at CPAC in . (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It was brought to my attention yesterday that I’ve been perhaps too generous in my praise of Grover Norquist. the founder of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) and the man responsible for getting huge numbers of Representatives and Senators to sign his Taxpayer Protection Pledge. Indeed I, like many others, have enjoying quoting his most favorite saying: “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

I also like what ATR stands for: it “opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle.” So if so many credible people over such a long period of time think Norquist is OK, then who am I to argue?

Except that I’ve discovered there’s more to the man than just what is published at Wikipedia, although that’s a good place to start. Wiki states that he is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR) about which I know more than the average bear, having read several exposes of it and have watched its influence expand over the past 40 years. I agree with those who consider the CFR the center of the Anglo-American establishment that Carroll Quigley has written about, as well as James Perloff.

Wiki also notes that Norquist founded something called the Islamic Free Market Institute where Wiki provides us with this chilling bit of information:

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At Least Jim Inhofe is Keeping His Pledge

Wednesday, 28 November 2012 11:00

Jim Inhofe, United States Senator photo portrait.

Jim Inhofe, United States Senator photo portrait. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

With the so-called “defection” of four Senators and a House member from Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge“, it’s nice to see someone standing against the grain, and keeping his pledge: Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe. In an interview with Newsmax TV, he said:

I have not [conceded]. I made it very clear that I was not conceding at all. So long as we look weak on that, then they’ve won the battle.

We have to understand that our problem is spending too much, not taxing too little. Most of the people understand that. All of the Republicans did understand that [at one time], so I’m a little disappointed in some of the actions of my fellow Republicans.

That’s directed at Senators Lindsey Graham, John McCain, Bob Corker and Saxby Chambliss who have bailed on their pledge and now want to put higher taxes “on the negotiating table” with Obama, thus giving away their

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Taxpayer Protection Pledge Takers Now Breaking Their Promise

Monday, 26 November 2012 19:00

U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, of Georgia.

U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss, of Georgia. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A defection on Thursday from Grover Norquist’s “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” by Saxby Chambliss, the senior Republican Senator from Georgia, triggered similar defections over the weekend. It also triggered a strong response from Norquist.

Said Chambliss: “I care more about my country than I do about a 20-year-old-pledge. If we do it his way then we’ll continue in debt, and I just have a disagreement with him about that.”

The pledge that Chambliss is breaking states:

One, [I will] oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income tax rates for individuals and/or businesses; and

Two, [I will] oppose any net reduction or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by further reducing tax rates.

This reflects the philosophy of Norquist and the organization he founded in 1985, Americans for Tax Reform, that “opposes all tax increases as a matter of principle.” Norquist explained why the pledge was

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How Do Liberal Republicans Keep Their Pledges? They Don’t!

Monday, 26 November 2012 15:00

Honest Abe

Honest Abe (Photo credit: jeff_golden)

In a public display of candor that illustrates their moral incapacity, some well-known Republicans are now breaking their promise made to taxpayers when they signed Grover Norquist’s Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

First was Georgia Senator Saxby Chambliss. According to Wikipedia, Chambliss is a “conservative,” having been blessed by the Washington Post as one of the “gang of six” trying to craft some kind of way around the fiscal cliff impasse. When in doubt, I check the man’s Freedom Index rating (FI) to see how closely their actual voting record hews to the limits of the Constitution. With Chambliss, it appears to be: not very often, with a paltry rating of just 69. Translation, one-third of his votes are unconstitutional.

Next on the list of pledge-breakers is Lindsey Graham, senior Senator from South Carolina. His FI rating is scarcely better than Chambliss’, at 73. Then comes John McCain, senior Senator from Arizona, the ultimate establishment conservative, with a FI rating of 78. Finally, House member Peter King, from the 3rd Congressional District of New York, with a FI rating of a dismal 62. That’s awfully close to a

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Grover Norquist Weighs In on the Fiscal Cliff

Saturday, 17 November 2012 15:54

Grover Norquist

Grover Norquist (Photo credit: Gage Skidmore)

This is the guy who started it all, years ago. In 1985 Grover Norquist founded Americans for Tax Reform whose goal is “a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government’s power to control one’s life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized.” He’s also known for his famous quip: “I’m not in favor of abolishing the government. I just want to shrink it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.”

His Taxpayer Protection Pledge has been signed by a vast majority in the House and many in the Senate, and those signers are taking their pledge seriously. It’s a major roadblock to Obama’s plan to increase taxes:

Republicans were re-elected to remain the majority in the House of Representatives and they point out that voters watched them stop Obama’s drive for higher taxes for the past two years. Clearly their victory in the House is America speaking out against higher taxes.

And the people? On Election Day exit polls, when asked about supporting tax hikes to reduce the deficit, 63 percent of Americans said they were opposed.

And the election has

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CBO All But Guarantees Fiscal Cliff Gridlock

Sunday, 11 November 2012 17:31

(fear) the Fiscal Cliff...

(fear) the Fiscal Cliff… (Photo credit: MyEyeSees)

In its latest 14-page report on the impact the “fiscal cliff” would have on the economy in 2013 and beyond, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) provided enough ammunition to both sides of the debate to guarantee a standoff in Washington. It would have simplified matters greatly if Doug Elmendorf, the CBO’s director, had simply said: “Pay me now or pay me later. You decide.”

The “fiscal cliff” is a convergence of tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to become effective on January 1^st 2013 that are complex enough to, in the words of Tevye in the film Fiddler on the Roof, “cross a Rabbi’s eyes.”

There are the Bush tax cuts from 2001 and 2003 which are due to expire, representing a tax increase that would affect most taxpayers, hitting higher earners especially hard. There are the mandatory spending cuts to military and domestic programs that resulted from the failure of Congress in August 2011 to make hard decisions about the deficit and national debt.

There is the expiration of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) “patch” which would effectively raise taxes on some 27 million people. There is the scheduled ending of the payroll tax “holiday” which temporarily reduced employees’ contributions to Social Security from 6.2% to 4.2%. There is the Medicare “Doc Fix” legislation which, when it expires, would cut Medicare providers’ fees by 27 percent. And there’s the Medicare surtax of 3.8 percent that would apply to high income earners along with the expiration of the Bush tax cuts.

Put altogether, if the congress does nothing, the impact on the economy would mean a significant decrease in

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Debt Ceiling Likely to be Raised Without Fanfare This Time

Saturday, 10 November 2012 15:45

English: at CPAC in .

Grover Norquist (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Near the end of the Treasury Department’s Quarterly Refunding Statement, issued on Wednesday, October 31^st, Assistant Secretary Matthew Rutherford included the following ominous paragraph:

Treasury continues to expect the debt limit to be reached near the end of 2012. However, Treasury has the authority to take certain extraordinary measures to give Congress more time to act to ensure we are able to meet the legal obligations of the United States of America. We continue to expect that these extraordinary measures would provide sufficient “headroom” under the debt limit to allow the government to continue to meet its obligations until early in 2013.

These are the words that triggered the debt ceiling crisis in the summer of 2011 when recalcitrant House members, honoring their Taxpayer Protection Pledge, drew a line in the sand and threatened a shutdown of the government unless the White House caved in and permitted spending cuts in the future in exchange for an immediate raise in the ceiling. Those “spending cuts in the future” are part of the “fiscal cliff” facing the lame duck congress following the election on Tuesday.

Since August 2^nd, when the Budget Control Act of 2011 was signed into law, the debt ceiling has been incrementally raised to its current level, $16.4 trillion. With October’s deficit of $195 billion pushing the national debt to $16.2 trillion, the clock is ticking on the inevitable limit being reached well before

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Reagan Budget Director Blasts Paul Ryan Budget

Tuesday, 21 August 2012 06:59

David Stockman

David Stockman (Photo credit: The Aspen Institute)

Calling potential Republican vice-presidential candidate Paul Ryan’s “Path to Prosperity” budget plan a “fairy tale,” David Stockman, President Ronald Reagan’s budget director from 1981 to 1985, took Ryan’s plan to task for not recognizing reality and for leaving behind the legacy of the GOP’s glory days when it reveled in touting small government.

Stockman said that Ryan’s plan to give tax cuts to “job creators” will do nothing to help create jobs, but instead will only put additional pressure on the middle class to come up with more revenues to fund the yawning federal deficit. Stockman conjured the images of “the true conservatives of modern times” like Herbert Hoover and Dwight Eisenhower who, if they were here, would decry the present GOP’s infatuation with what he calls “neoconservative imperialism” and the spending that goes along with it.

Ryan’s plan to push more of the Medicaid responsibility back onto the states through a voucher system is “hypocrisy,” according to Stockman, and merely postpones the reality of

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Did Romney Make a Mistake in Turning Down Trump’s Debate?

Monday, 12 December 2011 11:51

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declined Donald Trump’s invitation to participate in his December 27 debate, sponsored by Newsmax Media and ION TV in Des Moines, Iowa, saying “We [already] have two debates in December that I’ve agreed to participate in. The rest of the month will be spent campaigning.”

Trump was gracious in his response, saying: “It would seem logical to me that if I was substantially behind in the polls, especially in Iowa, South Carolina and Florida, I would want to participate in this debate. But I understand why Gov. Romney decided not to do it.”

But all Trump’s response did was to raise questions: Was Romney really that busy? Would his campaign benefit by his absence, appearing to be aloof and “above the fray” while his lessers battled between themselves? Did Romney want to put some distance between himself and Trump, as that relationship was appearing to be getting awfully cozy? Would Romney’s absence spell the death knell for the debate now that three of the contenders were planning to be campaigning elsewhere?

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Lacking Support, Boehner Delays Debt-Limit Vote

Friday, 29 July 2011 19:32

John Boehner - Caricature

Image by DonkeyHotey via Flickr

House Speaker John Boehner’s last-minute “pep talk” to his Republican caucus early Thursday morning failed to turn the tide of Tea Partier “nays” to “yeas,” and the vote on his debt-limit bill has been postponed. Calling on them to “get…in line” because “I can’t do this job unless you’re behind me,” Boehner failed in getting the 216 votes he needed. He claimed, “The Republican proposal includes real spending cuts and reforms that will restrain future spending—and the spending cuts are larger than the debt limit increase.”

He went on to say his bill represents “the best opportunity we have to hold the president’s feet to the fire. [Obama] wants a $2.4 trillion blank check that lets him continue his spending binge through the next election. This is the time to

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Debt-Limit Negotiations: A Game of Chicken Over Chicken Feed

Thursday, 30 June 2011 07:28

Chicken

Image by LollyKnit via Flickr

When House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) announced he was leaving the negotiations over raising the debt limit on Thursday, he made it clear that he felt he was getting pressured by the Democrats to accept tax increases as part of the deal. He said: “Each side came into these talks with certain orders, and as it stands the Democrats continue to insist that any deal must include tax increases. Regardless of the progress that has been made, the tax issue must be resolved before discussions can continue.”

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“Mount Vernon Statement”—A Warning

Wednesday, 17 February 2010 16:23

Official seal of Young Americans for Freedom.

Image via Wikipedia

The “Mount Vernon Statement” to be announced today at the start of the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C. is a “broad statement of principle aimed at giving a coherent framework” to the Tea Party and other activist movements on the right.

It also sounds eerily familiar.

The statement is available at www.themountvernonstatement.com, which declares:

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