Politics
Norquist, Grover G.
POLITICS by Grover G. Norquist Read Their Lips W hile some politicians have a hard time thinking past the next election, Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Tex.) have a longterm...
...A promise of annual tax cut legislation means that every group understands that failure to get its favorite tax cut in this year's bill is not a permanent loss...
...Clinton might veto such a bill, but the point will be made: Clinton is wedded to the status quo and Republicans are engaged in a debate about which single rate tax will replace the present income tax...
...and Armey and Archer pushing a single rate tax are all following the long term, patient, coalition-building strategy that once won for Jack Kemp...
...Spending rose 132 percent in TLA states and 41 percent in states without tax limitation protection...
...As the left-wing monthly Mother Jones has complained bitterly, this debate is merely about the details of a conservative reform: Both plans would tax income at one rate and only one time...
...in supporting the sales tax...
...California passed its two-thirds requirement as part of Proposition 13 back in 1978...
...Economic growth was 43 percent in protected states and only 35 percent in non-protected states...
...He corralled the outside coalition allies of the Republican Party and individual congressmen and party leaders...
...On twenty-five occasions around the country, flat tax advocate Dick Armey (R-Tex...
...who joins Ways and Means Chairman Bill Archer (R-Tex...
...Bill Paxon (R-N.Y...
...George Bush's 1990 tax hike won only 53 percent of the House and 55 percent of the Senate and Bill Clinton's tax hike in 1993 won only 50.2 percent in the House and 51 percent in the Senate...
...1Y tax–rate cut...
...It won't be very exciting, but it will keep official Washington busy while those members with longterm strategies and great patience build support month by month and year by year for substantial and radical change...
...The business community is pushing for simpler and lower capital gains taxes and expanding savings vehicles such as the Individual Retirement Account...
...Ron Wyden was the only Democrat to vote for tax limitation...
...Today fourteen states have some version of a supermajority requirement...
...has proposed abolishing the death tax ten years from now...
...Barton and his allies did such a good job of organizing outside support that the Republican leadership asked Barton to write the history of his efforts over the past several years so that it can serve as a model for other political campaigns...
...The Christian Coalition has begun a $3oo,000 radio campaign to highlight the marriage penalty tax that costs taxpayers between $12 billion and $3o billion each year...
...The freshmen told Speaker Newt Gingrich that they would not vote for the balanced budget amendment without a supermajority requirement unless they could be assured of an annual stand-alone vote on the Tax Limitation Amendment...
...The TLA would require a two-thirds supermajority vote to raise federal taxes...
...Chris Cox (R-Calif...
...Earlier this year, Joe Barton ran a five city tour in support of the TLA, holding press conferences in Illinois, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington, D.C...
...increases, only one received more than the two-thirds that would be required under the proposed amendment...
...He spoke anywhere and everywhere...
...The American Legislative Exchange Council, a national federation of more than 3,000 conservative state legislators (out of 7,171 total state legislators in the 5o states) has endorsed legislation to require a two-thirds vote for tax hikes, and legislation is in process in Michigan, Illinois, New Jersey, and Ohio...
...Gingrich recommended April 15 as the date for this annual vote and the deal was sealed...
...Sam Brownback (R-Kan...
...Thus abolishing the death tax (or any tax) in ten years does not cost the government anything...
...Kyl and Barton have both the strategy and the patience to build support in the nation and in the halls of Congress, and eventually win the necessary 290 votes in the House of Representatives and 67 votes in the Senate...
...This year and every year thereafter allows for improvement on the 1997 cut...
...Clinton's veto power and the narrow Republican majorities make it unlikely that Congress can pass radical reform such as a flat tax or a single rate retail sales tax until a Republican president is elected in 2000 or 2004...
...04 The American Spectator • June 1998 63...
...They agree on one rate and reject the progressive or graduated rates of the present code...
...Gingrich has called for using some of the surplus to give every working American an IRA to supplement Social Security...
...The establishment press will no doubt focus on this year's tax debate and miss the long term efforts that, as Dick Armey has been saying, will first organize the countryside and finally come back to win in "this city...
...It may be small, it may be vetoed by Clinton, but every year that Congress is in Republican hands there will be a tax cut...
...Kyl, Barton, and key congressional supporters such as Shadegg have worked with outside groups to build grassroots support for the amendment...
...Congress will likely vote a tax cut with a little of each of the above ideas...
...The 1982 tax hike received only 52 percent in both the House and Senate...
...The Senate leadership has been less cooperative in scheduling votes, but a resolution in support of the supermajority amendment won 41 votes in the spring of 1996 and 5o votes in April of this year...
...to abolish the federal income tax code by December 31, 2001...
...Patience is certainly necessary, since conservatives are today having trouble winning bare majorities...
...With $4 billion of the surplus, Congress could give every working American $100 in his own IRA...
...The House Republican leadership has kept its word and votes were held in April 1995, 1996, 1997 and again this year on April 22, when 238 votes were cast for the Barton amendment...
...Five Republicans voted against making it more difficult to raise taxes: Arlen Specter, Jim Jeffords, John Chafee, Michael DeWine, and Richard Lugar...
...There will be another tax cut vehicle next year and the year after...
...Only the smaller 1989 tax rise won 68 percent in the House and 93 percent in the Senate...
...Americans will then be able to compare their return on their IRA with their negative rate of return on Social Security and this will highlight the case for partial privatization, as Democrat Senators Bob Kerry of Nebraska and Pat Moynihan of New York have suggested—or even for a complete move to fully funded individually held retirement accounts, as advocated by Rep...
...62 June 1998 The American Spectator sey assembly and senate, who have introduced supermajority amendments...
...Steve Largent (R-Okla...
...Armey and Tauzin agree we must abolish the capital gains tax and the inheritance (or "death") tax...
...The outlines of this year's tax fight are becoming clearer...
...have a longterm strategy to pass the Tax Limitation Amendment to the United States Constitution...
...When Republican members of Congress left Washington for Easter Break this year, they were all handed a "Boarding Pass" set of talking points encouraging them to talk up the TLA in their districts...
...By 1980 Kemp had a champion in Ronald Reagan, and he won passage of Kemp-Roth in the summer 011981...
...has publicly debated his House colleague Bill Tauzin (R-Louis...
...Only 12 Republicans voted against the amendment and 25 Democrats voted with Barton...
...They agree we must have a two-thirds supermajority requirement for future tax hikes...
...John Porter (R-Ill...
...Members were reminded that of the last five tax GROVER G. NORQUIST is president of Americans for Tax Reform...
...The United States Chamber of Commerce, the Christian Coalition, the National Taxpayers Union, the conservative seniors group Sixty-Plus, and business groups such as the Beer Wholesalers, the National Association of Manufacturers, and Food Distribution International have all announced that they will "key vote" the vote on the TLA, meaning that it will affect the ratings each group gives to members of Congress...
...The first step in their strategy is to force a vote on the TLA each and every year as close to April 15 as the congressional schedule allows...
...Back in the 197o's, Kemp fought an initially lonely battle to bring marginal tax rate reduction to the political agenda...
...By 1978 he had won over the majority of House Republicans so that the 1978 campaign had a united message of a 33-percent income44 'Scrap the code' legislation can be pushed and voted on now...
...j oe Barton and Jon Kyl pushing the TLA...
...The 1987 tax hike won 57 percent in the House and 62 percent in the Senate...
...The odd timing is driven by Richard Darman's old budget rules that score tax cuts only for the next ten years...
...Clinton's veto threat made last year's cut—the first in sixteen years —too small and too targeted...
...Arizona passed a two-thirds supermajority requirement in 1992, Washington state in 1993, South Dakota and Nevada in 1996...
...activists in the revolutionary freshman class of 1994 got this commitment from the House Leadership back in January 1995...
...Paul Coverdell (R-Georgia) has won more than6o votes—enough to break a filibuster—for his Education Plus accounts which will let parents save tax-free for the education of their children in public or private schools...
...The Heritage Foundation put out a powerful twelve-year study demonstrating that taxes rose 102 percent in those states with a supermajority requirement, but rose 112 percent in states without one...
...Brownback and Largent campaigning for "Scrap the Code...
...Led by John Shadegg (R-Ariz...
...In New Jersey, Governor Christie Whitman joined Barton in endorsing the TLA and announced her support for a similar constitutional amendment for her state...
...But the "Scrap the code" legislation can be promoted and voted on now to highlight the Republican Party's commitment to fundamental reform...
...The ability to think strategically in the long term is also found in the campaign by outgoing Rep...
...But even this year's tax fight is part of the long term strategy laid out by Gingrich and Archer: a tax cut passed by Congress every year...
...The Democrats' willingness to filibuster in the Senate has raised to 6o the number of votes conservatives need to move controversial legislation through that body...
...and Sen...
...Whitman was joined by the Republican leadership of the New JerThere's a Tax Limitation Amendment in your future...
Vol. 31 • June 1998 • No. 6
