Congressman votes to hike taxes, violates Pledge to district

    WASHINGTON, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today, Congressman Ben
 Chandler (Ky.-6th) broke the promise he made, in writing, to the voters of
 Kentucky's sixth district. This latest tax hike was the third bill of the
 110th Congress that violates the Taxpayer Protection Pledge monitored by
 Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). The tax-hike plan, badly misnamed the
 "Temporary Tax Relief Act of 2007," passed 216-193, largely along party
 lines. Congressman Ben Chandler (Ky.-6th), one of only four Democrats in
 the House to sign the pledge, chose the Charlie Rangel tax-hike agenda over
 his pledge to Indiana.
 
     Chandler voted to increase numerous taxes while temporarily changing
 who is targeted by a particularly onerous part of the code called the
 Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT). ATR and House conservative leaders have
 called for scrapping the AMT altogether.
 
     Unfortunately this was not the first time Rep. Chandler has violated
 the Pledge he made to Kentucky's sixth district, according to ATR.
 "Congressman Chandler's word is worth nothing now," said Grover Norquist,
 president of ATR, a Washington-based group that argues against the type of
 tax hike Chandler championed today. "We are open to a view other than that
 Rep. Chandler lied his way into office, but I'm not able to explain it
 otherwise at this point," Norquist added.
 
     "His constituents really should ask him what was the point of signing a
 pledge he never had any intention of keeping," Norquist said.
 
     Along with H.R. 3996, two other bills were rated by the taxpayer group
 as violations of the pledge. The two bills are: H.R. 6, "the CLEAN Energy
 Act of 2007," and H.R. 2419, the House Farm bill.
 
     "You don't temporarily 'patch' an awful tax increase with more tax
 increases," Norquist said. "You scrap the whole law. You don't fix and
 continue bad policy, you eliminate it. " Unfortunately for Kentucky
 taxpayers, Rep. Chandler now combines a penchant for overtaxing his
 constituents with a complete lack of honesty, ATR reports.
 
     "I hope Kentucky taxpayers will join me in calling on Rep. Chandler to
 finally act like his word to his constituents is worth the paper his Pledge
 is printed on," Norquist concluded.
 
     ATR is a non-partisan coalition of taxpayers and taxpayer groups who
 oppose all federal, state and local tax increases. For more information or
 to arrange an interview, please contact John Kartch at (202) 785-0266 or at
 jkartch@atr.org.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

SOURCE Americans for Tax Reform

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