Yippy Little Anti-Tax Watchdog Grover Norquist Turns On Sam Brownback

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Yippy Little Anti-Tax Watchdog Grover Norquist Turns On Sam Brownback

By Susie Madrak at Crooks and Liars

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/02/yippy-little-anti-tax-watchdog-grover

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Earlier this week, Norquist penned a letter to state lawmakers encouraging them to thwart Brownback's proposal to raise taxes on liquor sales and tobacco products. Although Norquist hewed to his normal claims that taxes end up hurting the state's bottom line, he also adopted a tactic that you'd normally hear from liberals: Don't raise these specific taxes because they overburden the poor.

"The fact is, so called 'sin taxes' like the cigarette tax and alcohol tax disproportionately impact consumers who can afford the tax increase least. A pack-a-day smoker would end up paying an extra $547.50 in taxes a year," Norquist wrote in the letter, according to the Topeka Capital-Journal. "Kansans living along the Missouri border may opt to avoid the tax altogether by purchasing their tobacco products in Missouri—where the tax would be lower."

A spokesperson for Americans for Tax Reform didn't respond to several interview requests.

It's a bit rich for Norquist to show concern for the plight of low-income Kansans now. Spending on social services plummeted during Brownback's first term in office. And the tax cuts that Norquist praised predominantly favored the state's wealthy citizens—particularly thanks to a decision to zero-out taxes for nearly 200,000 privately held companies. An analysis by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities last year noted that the total effects of all the tax code changes in Kansas in fact raised taxes by 1.3 percent on the bottom 20 percent of the state's earners.



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[salin]

1. k&r

[2naSalit]

2. I can hardly wait until

these sleazebags all eat each other to the point there are so few of them we can round them up and drown them in a bathtub.

[tanyev]

3. K & R for the headline alone.

[pansypoo53219]

4. ekonomik voodoo priest. the whole tinkle wing need to be snuffed out.