TAXPAYER GROUP SUPPORTS TOUGHER STANDARDS FOR CONGRESS TO RAISE TAXES | Citizens Against Government Waste

TAXPAYER GROUP SUPPORTS TOUGHER STANDARDS FOR CONGRESS TO RAISE TAXES

Press Release

For Immediate Release
Contact: Jim Campi

April 11, 1997
(202) 467-5300

 

(Washington, D.C.) -- The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today reiterated its support for the bipartisan Tax Limitation Amendment (TLA), sponsored by Representative Joe Barton (R-Texas).  The TLA would require that Congress have a two-thirds super-majority to increase taxes.  If passed, the measure would then need ratification by 38 states in order to become the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution.  

“As the President and the Congress struggle to find common ground on the budget for fiscal year 1998, let’s ensure spending is controlled and taxes are harder to raise.”  Schatz added, "Tax increases have come in the wake of every past budget deal.  We need this amendment, along with the bold leadership of the 105th Congress, to guarantee that taxpayers won't get burned again as we move toward a balanced budget by 2002."  

 According to Schatz, Congress has held the government's purse strings loosely for over 60 years, prompting a tax and spend frenzy which will burden Americans with a mountain of debt far into the future.  "Today's taxpayers are paying a high price for Washington's fiscal irresponsibility," Schatz said.  In 1934, federal taxes accounted for only five percent of a family's income; by 1994, 19 percent of a family's income was consumed by federal taxes. 

"Since the 1986 Tax Reform Act became law, hard-working taxpayers have watched their savings dwindle and taxes climb," Schatz said.   "It's time to limit the ability of Congress to pickpocket hard-working Americans.  A tax limit is essential to the success of any balanced budget plan."

"Our 600,000 members are demanding financial discipline in Washington and are mobilized behind this courageous bipartisan effort by the House of Representatives to reform Washington's wasteful tax-and-spend culture.  All it takes is the will to get the job done.  The first step is to approve the TLA."

 CCAGW is a 600,000-member lobbying organization dedicated to seeking enactment of legislation to eliminate waste, inefficiency, mismanagement and abuse in the federal       government.  CCAGW has supported previous attempts to limit the ability of legislators to increase federal taxes.

  For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact Jim Campi at (202) 467-5300.

 

Sign Up For Email Updates


Optional Member Code