DEAR CANDIDATE: YOU ARE CORDIALLY
INVITED TO OPPOSE TAX HIKES
An
open letter to all Nevada candidates claiming to be fiscal conservatives…
Sponsored
by Grover Norquist of Americans for
Tax Reform, the Taxpayer Protection Pledge has been signed by true taxpayer
champions and fiscally conservative candidates all across the country for over
25 years.
The
Left and the mainstream media (but I repeat myself) hate the Pledge because it
hinders their ability to get more money to grow government.
And Moderate
Republicans hate to sign the Pledge because it means they would actually have
to vote the way they campaigned.
These
“Gumbies” say they need to be “flexible” - which means they want to be able to
raise taxes, which is ALWAYS easier than cutting spending or setting
spending priorities.
And
they come up with all manner of B.S. excuses not to promise their voters IN
WRITING that they won’t raise taxes.
So let’s take a look at some of them…
PLEDGE FSE’S (FREQUENTLY
STATED EXCUSES)
In
reality, if you are a true fiscal conservative there is NO EXCUSE for
not signing the Pledge. There are ALWAYS
options to raising taxes and fees, including reducing spending and shifting
spending priorities.
Also,
the Pledge DOES NOT stop an elected official from pursuing tax reform…as
long as the tax reform doesn’t result in a net increase in tax revenue to the
government.
For
example, if there was a proposal to lower the sales tax on goods while imposing
a new tax on some services that broadens the tax base but does not result in a
net increase in tax revenue going to the government, that may or may not be a
good policy idea but it would NOT be a violation of the Tax Pledge. It just has to be revenue neutral.
So
any candidate who says the Tax Pledge would stop them from voting for tax
reform (hello, Becky Harris!), they
are simply wrong. The Pledge does no
such thing.
Another
issue that often comes up is this notion of raising “fees.” The Tax Pledge does NOT prevent you from
raising fees, but only if it’s a true USER fee and not a tax disguised
as a fee.
A
true user fee is a fee you can avoid by doing business elsewhere. For example, if you want to raise the fee to
use the picnic area in a government park for a birthday party, that’s not a
violation of the Pledge because people can always hold their birthday party
somewhere else.
However,
a business licensing fee is not a user fee because you have no choice but to
pay it to the government and can’t go anywhere else to get the license. This “fee” is really just a tax by another
name because there’s no way around it.
Then
there’s the ever-popular “my word is my bond” excuse.
Try
using that line the next time you go to the bank for a loan to buy a house or a car. Or for that matter, using your Visa or
MasterCard at Wal-Mart or any other retail store. Good luck telling the sales clerk that you
won’t sign the charge slip because “your word is your bond.”
To
paraphrase an old saying: In God we trust; all others have to sign on the
dotted line.
Then
there’s the absolutely worst excuse you can ever use: “But if I sign the Pledge, (insert special interest here) said they won’t
give me money.”
Think
about that one for a second.
If
you want to sign the Pledge because you truly believe that raising taxes is the
wrong public policy, yet you won’t sign it because if you do someone won’t give
you money, what are you going to do when confronted by a major donor asking for
your vote on a bad public policy bill once in office?
I
mean, if you’re willing to sell out your principles even BEFORE getting
elected, is there any doubt that you’ll sell them out after?
And
lastly, the Pledge isn’t made to me or Grover Norquist. The wording is quite simple and
explicit. Candidates who sign the Tax
Pledge are making a campaign promise to the TAXPAYERS in your
district.
PLEDGE IS A HISTORICAL
WEATHER VANE
Candidates
make a lot of campaign promises; often broken.
The only difference here is that you’re actually signing a document
attesting to your commitment, not just paying lip service to it.
Now
here’s the thing…
With
the glaring exception of infamous Pledge-breaker Sen. Moderate Mike Roberson, candidates who have signed the Tax Pledge
have consistently voted against tax hikes while in office.
On
the other hand, of those who have consistently voted to raise taxes, none of
them – again with the glaring exception of Sen. Roberson – have opted to sign
the Tax Pledge.
Candidates
who sign the Tax Pledge – again with the glaring exception of Sen. Roberson –
can usually be depended upon to honor their campaign promises not to raise
taxes.
Historically
speaking, those who refuse to sign the Tax Pledge are the ones who break their
campaign promises and vote for tax hikes.
Oh,
and they usually get a lot of other issues wrong, as well!
And
by the way, a vote to extend the “sunsets” is absolutely, positively a vote to
increase taxes.
The “dodge”
that extending a tax hike that was scheduled to expire isn’t a campaign promise
violation because extending a tax hike is not a “new” tax is pure,
unadulterated bull. If a tax is
scheduled to expire, and you vote to extend it, that is, without a doubt, an
effort to increase taxes. Period.
When
it comes to lame excuses for not signing the Tax Pledge, I think I’ve pretty
much heard ‘em all. And if I haven’t, I’m
sure Grover has. For any candidate
running as a fiscal conservative there is simply no argument or circumstance
that Grover and I can’t counter.
Think
you have a new one? Give us a shot. Kinda like “Stump the Bandleader.”
HOW TO TAKE THE PLEDGE
On
the other hand, if you want the taxpayers of your district – whether they be
Republicans, Democrats or anything in between – to know with near-metaphysical
certainty that you won’t raise their taxes (by the way, Democrat voters don’t
want their taxes raised any more than Republican voters do, though they’re
often happy to raise somebody else’s taxes!), then please join Sen. Dean Heller, Rep. Mark Amodei, Rep. Joe Heck
and almost every other elected Republican in Congress – along with thousands of
elected state legislators all across the country – in signing the Taxpayer
Protection Pledge.
Depending
on the office you’re running for, the wording is slightly different…
If
you’re a candidate running for Congress or U.S. Senate office, click
here to download the Pledge
If
you’re a candidate running for governor, mayor or any other state office, click here to
download the Pledge
If
you’re a candidate running for a legislative seat or any other local office, click here
to download the Pledge
Then
please fax your completed Pledge to both Americans for Tax Reform and Citizen
Outreach, as both of our organizations publish a running list of candidates in
Nevada who have signed the Pledge on our websites.
Fax
to ATR at: (202) 785-0261
Fax
to CO at: (702) 664-0900
Or
you can scan and email your signed Pledge directly to me at chuck@citizenoutreach.com
and I will forward a copy to Grover and ATR.
Also, if you have any questions or concerns about signing the Pledge,
feel free to email them to the same address.
PLEDGE SIGNING CEREMONY IN
VEGAS THIS FRIDAY!
If
you’re a fiscal conservative candidate and will be in the Las Vegas area this
Friday evening, please join us for our monthly First Friday Happy
Hour and participate in a public Tax Pledge signing ceremony with a
pair of official celebrity witnesses – conservative talk-show host Alan Stock of KDWN and conservative Nevada
Tax Pledge signer Assemblyman John
Hambrick!
We’ll
do a photo-op of you and your signed Pledge with Alan and Assemblyman Hambrick,
plus I’ll issue a formal press release for each Pledge signer that you can use
on your campaign website or blog.
And,
hey, if you’ve already signed the Pledge, please join us and “renew your
vows”!
That’s
this Friday, April 4th from 5-7 pm at Stoney’s Rockin’ Country in
the Town Square Mall on the south end of the Strip. Even if you can’t stay for the full event,
stop by, sign your Pledge and be on your way.
And don’t worry about bringing a copy; we’ll have plenty of blank copies
on-hand.
P.S.
My 55th birthday is this Saturday, April 5th, and signing the Pledge around
5:55 pm would be the PERFECT early birthday present!
THE LITMUS TEST
By the
way, Citizen Outreach PAC will be endorsing candidates in this year’s
elections, including the primaries; however…
Citizen
Outreach PAC will NOT endorse any candidate who has not signed the
Taxpayer Protection Pledge. We’ve been
burned by too many candidates who promise they won’t raise taxes on the
campaign trail but then flip-flop and break their word
once in office (hello, Gov. Sandoval!).
If
you’re not willing to put your campaign promise in writing, we’re not willing
to take a chance on you.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
“Branding
is important. Coca-Cola spends a lot of time and quality-control branding
Coca-Cola. Everybody knows what's in Coca-Cola. And so you can buy a bottle of
Coke, take it home and you don’t have to ask what’s in it or read the ingredients
or ask your friends about. You just take it home and drink it.
“But
what if you get two-thirds of the way through your bottle of Coke and you look
in and there’s a rat head in what’s left in your Coke bottle?
“You
do not just say to yourself, 'You know, I'm wondering whether I'm going to
finish all of the rest of this particular bottle of Coke this evening.' Instead you begin to wonder whether you'll
ever buy Coke again in the future and go on local TV and show the cool rat
head. And then Coca-Cola has a very large problem worldwide. It damages the
brand.
“Republican
elected officials who vote for tax increases are rat heads in the Coke bottle.
They damage the GOP brand for everybody else.”
–
Grover Norquist, president, Americans for Tax Reform
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