This just in from longtime FR friend, Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform…  This is an appropriate time for me to praise every California Republican in Congress, and virtually every Republican in the state legislature for voluntary putting pen to paper and committing to oppose efforts to raise taxes.  Given the agenda of our new liberal Governor to try to balance state overspending with yet another massive tax increase, the solidarity of legislators who understand the fallacy of this kind of approach is more significant than ever…

Moments ago I sent a letter to all Taxpayer Protection Pledge signers in the California legislature, clarifying that a vote in favor of referring tax increases or extension of tax increases to the ballot qualifies as a violation of the Taxpayer Protection Pledge.

There is nothing subjective about this determination and one need simply look at the language of the Pledge for proof. It is clear to any honest observer that voting to put higher taxes on the ballot is a failure to “oppose and vote against any and all efforts to raise taxes.”

Americans for Tax Reform will be educating voters throughout the 2011 legislative session and subsequent election cycles as to who has kept their central campaign commitment constituents. ATR looks forward to working with Gov. Brown where possible. But more job-killing tax increases in one of the most onerously taxed and regulated states in the union is a non-starter.

(The link at the bottom of this post will pull up a fully formatted .pdf version of the letter below.)

January 6, 2010

Dear California Pledge Signers,

     I write today in strong opposition to Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposal to send billions of dollars in additional job-killing tax increases to the ballot this year. Raising California’s tax burden will not fix the state’s problem, which is out of control government spending. Voting to send tax increases to the ballot would violate the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written commitment that you made to your constituents to “oppose any and all efforts to raise taxes.”

      In the recent midterm elections, voters sent a clear message that lawmakers at the federal and state level are spending too much, not that they are taxing too little. In fact it was California voters who first expressed this point back in May of 2009, rejecting then-Gov. Schwarzenegger’s attempt to extend billions of dollars in higher taxes on income, sales, and vehicles.

      Former Senate Leader James Brulte recently remarked that “the most important reform that California needs cannot be enacted by the voters.  What really needs to be reformed the most is the mindset of state policy makers.  Until this mindset changes, even the most radical reforms enacted by the voters will not restore the luster to our state.” I couldn’t agree more. California lawmakers would also be well-served to heed Nelson Mandela’s wise proclamation in which he noted that “money won’t create success, the freedom to make it will.”

      The once great state of California does not have a revenue problem, it has a spending problem. If high taxes were the solution then California would be in great shape. I urge you to stand up for California taxpayers by opposing Gov. Brown’s efforts to refer higher taxes to the ballot, and in doing so, uphold your central campaign commitment to oppose any and all efforts to raise taxes in the already over-taxed Golden State. If you have any questions, please contact me or Patrick Gleason, ATR’s Director of State Affairs, at 202-785-0266.  

Onward,

Grover Norquist

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 6th, 2011 at 12:00 am and is filed under Blog Posts.