Americans for Prosperity Wisconsin: Calls on Tammy Baldwin to seize opportunity for tax reform

The Wisconsin campaign is part of a nationwide effort that AFP hopes will harness the American taxpayers’ frustrations with the nation’s tax laws into a grassroots movement supporting broad, pro-growth tax reform that is based on AFP’s 5 Principles: Simplicity, Efficiency, Equitability, Predictability, and No New Burdens on Taxpayers.

“Hard-working Wisconsinites are reminded in every pay check that our tax system is rigged,” said AFP-Wisconsin State Director Eric Bott. “Tammy Baldwin knows the tax code is broken but in more than 16 years in Congress, what has she done to fix it? Our army of grassroots activists will do everything in its power to urge Senator Baldwin to embrace tax reforms built on our principles of simplicity, efficiency, equitability, predictability, and no new burden on taxpayers.”

In her first speech on the Senate floor, Baldwin said: “As I’ve traveled the state, Wisconsinites have told me that the powerful and well-connected still seem to get to write their own rules, while the concerns and struggles of middle-class families go unnoticed in Washington.”

In a press release about the speech, Baldwin added “in order for America to compete and win the future, we need a tax code that respects and rewards hard work and not just wealth; grows the middle class and strengthens economic security; increases American competitiveness; and reduces the nation’s deficit and debt.” AFP-Wisconsin  will do all it can to convince Baldwin to honor that pledge.

Last month AFP announced a vision for tax reform that includes:

1. SIMPLICITY: Lower rates, fewer brackets, and the elimination of special loopholes, deductions and exemptions will make tax compliance easier and more affordable.
2. EFFICIENCY: A broad-based, low-rate tax system is the most efficient way for the government to collect revenue – causing as little disruption to the economy as possible.
3. EQUITABILITY: Corporate welfare and special-interest handouts in the current tax code create an unfair, two-tiered tax system and should be eliminated.
4. PREDICTABILITY: Tax certainty is essential to a pro-growth tax system.
5. NO BURDEN ON TAXPAYERS: Comprehensive tax reform should be done without placing new burdens on the American people, whether in the form of a BAT, VAT, carbon tax, or otherwise.

Click here to learn more about AFP’s five principles of tax reform.

Tax Facts:

• Since 1986, the last time Congress significantly reformed our tax laws, “the code has grown more complex by the year, as evidenced by the fact that Congress has made more than 5,900 changes to the code—an average of more than one a day—just since 2001,” according to IRS Taxpayer Advocate.
• The U.S. Tax Code is 4 million words long.
• Individuals and businesses waste billions of dollars and billions of hours complying with the code’s complex and convoluted requirements. In 2016, tax code complexity cost American taxpayers and businesses $409 billion dollars, and over 8.9 billion hours in compliance time—time and money that could be put to more productive use.
• America’s byzantine tax policy, with the highest corporate statutory rates in the developed world, deters American business investments, stifles economic growth, and caused America to lose as many as 3 million jobs.

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