Outline of the Tax Reform Campaign
September 2002
Dear CSE Member:
Thank you for your interest in CSE’s fundamental tax reform campaign to “Scrap the Code.” Your interest – and hopefully your participation – will help to advance our mission of lower taxes, less government, and more freedom. Simply put, CSE’s “Scrap the Code” tax reform campaign seeks to abolish the nation’s tax code for one that’s simple, low, fair, flat, and honest.
It will be a multi-year, multi-state tax campaign to fundamentally change the code from the bottom up. That means we will need your help, expertise, and time. I will explain our campaign strategy in further detail in a moment, but first I want to give you a little background on the challenges we face.
Today, the tax code is more confusing and complex than ever – there are more than 44,000 pages to the tax code; government spending at all levels continues to increase at unsustainable rates; budget crunches stemming from unabashed, liberal spending at the federal and state levels have politicians threatening to raise taxes once again; and to top it off, our taxes are the highest they’ve been in decades.
It’s apparent that the forces of big government at all levels are attempting to turn the tables on us. In Washington, D.C., Senators Tom Daschle, Paul Wellstone, Hillary Rodham Clinton, John Edwards, Ted Kennedy, Representative Dick Gephardt and their cohorts oppose tax reform, opting instead to spend more on their big government programs. They’ve refused to make President Bush’s tax cuts permanent; refused to repeal permanently the dreaded Death Tax; refused to limit their spending; and refused to listen to the voice of reason.
As you can see, we have a tremendous fight ahead of us, and your help is needed.
Fundamental tax reform has been at the core of CSE and CSE Foundation’s mission since our inception. The only solution to this liberal onslaught on our economic freedom is to “Scrap the Code.” Our strategy is to enlist an army of citizen-activists to demand change. We’re depending on you to get involved in the tax debates at the local, state, and federal levels and leverage them into a tax reform force that can’t be stopped.
Our tax campaign will focus on states that:
We are looking for individuals and leaders in the targeted states with the time, ability, expertise, and drive to help us in our endeavor. Here are some simple ways that you can help to “Scrap the Code” by 2005.
CSE activists have formed club networks, which meet on a regular basis, discuss what’s happening on the local, state, and federal levels, and devise plans on how they can affect the issues. We’re looking for activists who will join these clubs, but more importantly, we are seeking those who will help form local chapters so that we can mobilize on a moment’s notice and change policy.
We’ve set up state specific web sites at www.cse.org and we’re looking for activists to run them on a consistent basis. Essentially, the activists in charge would be responsible for uploading timely content. We have staff members that can help with this.
We’re also looking for individuals who will testify before their local and state legislators on tax issues. In the past we’ve supplied our activists with background information and detailed briefings on the issues from our policy staff, and have helped to craft the activist’s testimony.
Finally, we’re looking for activists who will coordinate and lead local, state, and federal district office visits.
These are just some of the ways you can help. You may be asking what assistance you can expect from CSE. Well, we have plenty to offer. We have a campaign team ready to help you and your club. We can help draft testimonies and provide you with expert policy material; we will coordinate state conference calls with other super-activists in your state so that we can formulate a specific game plan for your local or state tax battles; we can provide you with a media relations team that can help with drafting, editing, and sending out press releases to respective state media outlets; and, we can help with good old fashioned grassroots activism: calling members, organizing club meetings, providing you with lawn signs and other campaign related material.
The key to our success will be our ability to work with each other to make a difference. We’re looking to you to help us create the grassroots groundswell for fundamental tax reform. I’ll be the first to say it: We cannot replace the current tax code with something simple, low, fair, flat, and honest without your help. If you can get involved in any way, please give Stephen Flaherty or Paul Hilliar a call at 1-888-JOIN-CSE. Together, we will make a difference.
Sincerely,
Paul Beckner
President and CEO
