National Taxpayers Union

From Wikinfo

National Taxpayers Union (NTU) is a pro-taxpayers advocacy organization in the United States, founded in 1969 by James Dale Davidson. It is closely affiliated with a non-profit foundation, the National Taxpayers Union Foundation (NTUF). According to the 990 forms of NTUF, the NTU and NTUF share staff, facilities, website and board members. Dr. John E. Berthoud is president of both the NTU and the NTUF, and Dave Stanley is chairman of both groups. The NTU provides a rating for every member of Congress, indexing how "taxpayer-friendly" it views each representative or senator to be.

Contents 1 Policy Positions 2 See also 3 References 4 Links 4.1 References

Policy Positions

The group is best known for its work to enact constitutional limits on government taxes, spending and debt. It played a major role in passage of Federal income tax indexing, so inflation no longer bumps taxpayers into higher brackets. It also played a major role in passage of "Taxpayer Bill of Rights" laws that help to safeguard against IRS abuses and legislation protecting innocent spouses from having to pay tax debts.

The NTU favors either a flat tax or a national sales tax for the United States, as opposed to the progressive income tax now in use.^[1] They argue in favor of the line-item veto for the president.^[2] They generally oppose crop subsidies by the government (such as for sugar and ethanol).^[3] The organization's briefs and policy papers decry the so-called "death tax,"(a tax on estates)^[4] and supports deregulation.^[5]

In the wake of the Indian Ocean Tsunami, a commentary from the NTU argued against the U.S. government giving direct aid to the affected countries, proposing that more free trade was a better way to assist those affected by the tsunami.^[6]

See also

• Arkansas Project
• Americans For Fair Taxation
• Americans for Tax Reform
• Citizens for Tax Justice
• Tax Foundation
• George Snyder

References

1. ^ http://www.ntu.org/main/press_release.php?PressID=768&org_name=NTUF
2. ^ http://www.ntu.org/main/press_release.php?PressID=872&org_name=NTU
3. ^ http://www.ntu.org/main/press_release.php?PressID=834&org_name=NTU
4. ^ http://www.ntu.org/main/press_release.php?PressID=827&org_name=NTU
5. ^ http://www.ntu.org/main/press_release.php?PressID=841&org_name=NTU
6. ^ http://www.ntu.org/main/press_commentaries.php?PressID=693&org_name=NTU

Links

• National Taxpayers Union website
• Template:SourceWatch

Additional work on this article is appreciated.

References

• Adapted from the Wikipedia article, "National_Taxpayers_Union" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Taxpayers_Union, used under the GNU Free Documentation License