Congressman Proposes Moving Tax Day to November
By Christine Hall
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
April 11, 2003

(CNSNews.com) - Would voters "throw the rats out of office" if they paid their taxes the day before Election Day? Some lawmakers think so.

Everyone knows that federal income taxes are due on April 15. But that's about six months from Election Day in November. Congressman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) thinks taxpayers would hold Congress more accountable for their spendthrift ways if the pains of tax day were still fresh on Election Day.

"I think that Americans might make different choices, say, have the price of government in their minds when they cast their ballots," said Bartlett.

So far, Bartlett's bill boasts 20 co-sponsors, but not all lawmakers will see the first Monday in November as the ideal tax day, Bartlett predicts.

"If you believe that government ought to be bigger and America ought to be taxed more, you're not going to sign onto my bill," said Bartlett.

Free market interest groups praised the plan, saying it would bring the cost of government in line with the day of its purchase.

"All too often, elected officials are not held accountable for the tax hikes they impose on constituents," said Paul Gessing, director of government affairs for the National Taxpayers Union. "By the time November rolls around, it has been seven months since the tax-filing deadline, and many people have forgotten the egregious amount of time and money they've spent on returns."

The Bartlett plan would be a "huge step towards restoring accountability to an out-of-control government that misuses billions of dollars of taxpayer funds," said Edward L. Hudgins of the Objectivist Center. "Most federal expenditures are wealth transfers, handouts to special interest groups and uses of funds not authorized by Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution."

"Americans should purchase and pay for their government in the same week," said Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform (ATR). With tax day so far from Election Day, "it's like buying government services on a credit card and seeing the bill later on," said Norquist.

Taxpayers would vote differently if Election Day came on the heels of tax day, said Dan Clifton, federal affairs manager of ATR.

One example, Clifton suggested, is the case of Sen. Bob Graham, a Florida Democrat and presidential hopeful.

Graham opposes President Bush's dividend tax cut, which is presently embroiled in conference negotiations between the Senate and the House. Yet many of Graham's constituents rely on dividend income for retirement.

"He's more interested in being elected president and more worried about his primary in Iowa and New Hampshire than his constituents in Florida," Clifton charged. "But if this [Bartlett] bill was in place right now, there's no way that he would be able to vote against every senior citizen in Florida who sees his or her dividends, his or her retirement income, being double-taxed."

Bartlett has previously launched efforts to move tax day to November but without success.

Another effort at lashing out at high taxes around April 15 is the bi-partisan Tax Limitation Amendment, which would require a two-thirds "supermajority" vote in both chambers of Congress in order to raise taxes.

This year, Rep. Pete Sessions (R-Tex.) will introduce that bill.

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