Coalition Warns Against Tax Hikes, Defends Taxpayer Protection Pledge

Washington, DC, December 5, 2012 – In response to an all-out assault by the media and even some in Congress on the Taxpayer Protection Pledge lawmakers signed promising they would not raise taxes, a coalition of national and state policy groups sent a letter to GOP lawmakers on Wednesday that urges them to honor their pledge to taxpayers and refuse to raise taxes.

Some members have said they will repudiate their pledge to taxpayers but attempt to hold the line on rate increases to achieve a ‘deal’ with the Obama administration. We urge you to reject this line of thinking. We urge you to reject tax increases, refocus negotiations on spending cuts and entitlement reform, where they belong, and send a strong signal to Americans they can count on their elected representatives to look out for them in the upcoming budget negotiations.

The letter points out the political reality that any negotiated trade between tax increases and spending cuts will lead to tax increases and no real spending cuts.  Moreover, billions in spending cuts can, in fact, be made without raising taxes to plug the budget hole.

Groups represented by the coalition letter include: Competitive Enterprise Institute, American Commitment, Less Government, R Street Institute, FRC, Accuracy in Media, Capital Research Center, Institute for Policy Innovation, National Taxpayers Union, Rio Grande Foundation, Cascade Policy Institute, The Maine Heritage Policy Center, Let Freedom Ring, American Conservative Union, The National Center for Public Policy Research, Center for Freedom & Prosperity, Center for Individual Freedom, GOProud, and the 60 Plus Association.

> View the coalition letter