One Week Until AFP-GA Day at the Capitol and GA Taxpayer Rally!

Next Thursday, March 19, we have a great day planned at the Capitol. First, we’ll hear from Secretary of State Karen Handel, take tours of the Capitol, and learn to lobby for the most underrepresented group in America – the taxpayers!

At 11, we’ll gather on the front steps of the Capitol for a GA Taxpayer Rally. Bring your friends, bring your posters, and bring your message to state lawmakers – NO New Taxes!

In these difficult economic times, the last thing we need is any new tax, yet lawmakers are looking for ways to raise revenues. Let’s tell them that we want smaller government instead and right now is the perfect time to downsize. This event is free and open to the public.

Poster contest! We’ll sponsor a poster contest during the rally. Prizes will be awarded for "Best Looking poster," "Most Original poster," and "Best Kid poster" – made by someone under 16 years old. We may add other categories, so be artful! Be in front of the Washington Street Capitol entrance at 11:00am sharp to be eligible for the contest. Prizes will be gift cards from merchants.

Then at Noon, join us at the Top of the Slop (Empire Room, Sloppy Floyd Building) for a catered lunch featuring a super lineup of speakers on fiscal issues – House Speaker Glenn Richardson, Senators Chip Rogers and David Shafer, Representatives Mike Coan, Tom Graves, Jan Jones, and Austin Scott. Subjects include the JOBS Act (that so many of you supported this week through our Action Alert,) zero-based budgeting, property assessment caps, education funding, and other topics.

There is a $25 charge for lunch, which covers our costs. RSVP here. Or e-mail here if you need further information.

Important:
There is NO CHARGE for the Taxpayer Rally at 11 AM on the Capitol steps.
Bring posters, but not on stakes – the Capitol Police will confiscate them.
Do bring picture ID but do not carry weapons, including pocket knives, when entering the Capitol Building or the Sloppy Floyd Building.
Invite your friends to join us for the Taxpayer Rally.
Stay tuned - next week we’ll update you on the tax revolt in SE GA, the upcoming Hot Air Tour, and a national video contest!

Jared Thomas
State Director
Amerians for Prosperity

Isakson Votes No on Treasury Nominee

U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., today released the following statement regarding Timothy Geithner’s confirmation to head the Treasury Department. Geithner was confirmed by a vote of 60 to 34. Isakson voted against confirming Geithner.

“Timothy Geithner is a talented and able man. However, that fact does not outweigh the fact that Mr. Geithner failed to pay payroll taxes on two years income at the IMF, even after the IRS audited his returns for the two succeeding years and discovered his failure to pay. It was only days before his nomination that he came forward to pay the other two years. That was more than a mistake for someone nominated to oversee the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service. I cannot support his nomination.”

Oxendine Letter to Supporters re: Fair Tax

The following is a message Commissioner John Oxendine sent to his supporters and Mike Huckabee's in the state of Georgia. Commissioner Oxendine is running for Governor in Georgia and is considered one of the favorites to win. If elected he plans to make a movement to call the Governor's of the country together to call a Constitutional Convention of the States to enact the Fair Tax.

Dear Fellow Fair Tax Supporter,

I stand with Congressman John Linder, Neal Boortz, and Herman Cain in support of the Fair Tax.

I am very disappointed the US Congress has not followed the outstanding leadership of Congressman Linder and passed his historic pro-family legislation.

If you honor me in 2010 by allowing me to serve as your Governor, I will invite the nation's Governors to meet and draft a plan to implement the Fair Tax.

I stand with, and support, Governor Mike Huckabee in his national leadership on the Fair Tax. Governor Huckabee has demonstrated true leadership and statesmanship in his principled stand on the Fair Tax. I intend to stand with him as we continue the battle for the Fair Tax.

Like Governor Huckabee, I feel that a reasonable tax structure should be flat, fair, finite, and family friendly. The Fair Tax achieves these goals for America.

Like Governor Huckabee, I am convinced the Fair Tax will do more to revive our sagging economy than any so-called stimulus package Congress can try and sell to taxpayers.

Like Governor Huckabee, I don't support the Fair Tax just to secure the support of a particular group of voters. I support the Fair Tax because I am confident it will lead to a level of economic security and revival that would be unmatched by any other action on the part of our Federal government.

I need your help. I need your support - today.

I am not endorsed by the Fair Tax organization. Due to IRS laws, they cannot endorse me.

However, I endorse them.

I have had people say that if I support the Fair Tax, I will not have their political support in my campaign for Governor of Georgia. While I certainly respect their opinion and will regret not having their support, I am and will always be solid and sincere in my support for the Fair Tax.

I am willing to lose an election, but I am not willing to stand by and allow my children to live under the failed tax policies implemented in 1913 that we still have to endure.

America needs the Fair Tax and we need it now.

I need your support to become the nation's first sitting pro-Fair Tax governor. Will you send my campaign a contribution before my 31 December reporting deadline?

We have all heard reports of a resolution by the National Governor's Association opposing the Fair Tax. If you honor me with your financial support, I will be the Governor that changes that.

I will be the Governor who campaigns for the Fair Tax and I will be proud to stand with Governor Mike Huckabee, Congressman John Linder, Neal and Herman to promote and fight for the Fair Tax.

If you agree, I need your help. Today.

Once the Georgia General Assembly goes into Session in early January, I cannot accept contributions until they conclude - typically in mid-April.

Your contribution - of any amount from $5 to $5,000 will help. It will allow me to travel the state in early 2009 hosting our Fair Tax Meet Ups.

In the next few weeks, the dates and locations will be posted at www.johnoxendine.com for my next series of statewide Fair Tax Meet Ups, but I need your financial support to make them a reality.

I am afraid my potential opponents only passively support the Fair Tax. Sure, they may not oppose it, but they are certainly not making it a central message of their campaign.

One reason is that many of their top financial supporters actually support massive federal bailouts and oppose Governor Huckabee and the Georgia Republican Congressmen in their opposition to these out of control bailouts.

Typical. Politics as usual.

I am proud to endorse the Fair Tax. I have already traveled across Georgia and across America for the Fair Tax.

If you supported Governor Mike Huckabee and the Fair Tax in Georgia in 2008, I am your candidate for Governor of Georgia in 2010.

Please go to www.johnoxendine.com and contribute as generously as you can so that I can take our pro-Fair Tax message across Georgia.

John Oxendine
Oxendine Working for Georgia

Chambliss, Huckabee, Linder & Boortz at Fair Tax Rally

U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.) today announced that he will join Governor Mike Huckabee and special guests for a Fair Tax rally Sunday, November 16, 2008, at 2:30 pm, at the Gwinnett Center.

2:30-4:30 PM
Gwinnett Center- Grand Ballroom
6400 Sugarloaf Parkway
Duluth, Georgia 30097

U.S. Representative John Linder and the ‘Talkmaster’ Neal Boortz, authors of two books on the Fair Tax, will also attend.

Herman Cain & Mike Huckabee Fired Up the Crowd

U.S. Senator Saxby Chambliss (R-Ga.), Senate sponsor of legislation to enact the Fair Tax, today attended a rally at the Georgia State Capitol organized in response to Jim Martin’s latest attack ad mischaracterizing the Fair Tax. The rally was organized by Georgians for Fair Tax and Americans for Fair Taxation. Saxby was joined by Georgia Congressman John Linder, radio talk show host Herman Cain, Georgians for Fair Tax President Gene Key and FairTax.org national communications director, Ken Hoagland.

“I am not surprised that Chuck Schumer would send a campaign commercial to Georgia that is an outright lie,” Linder said. “I am surprised and a little disappointed that Jim Martin would let it be a part of his campaign. Saxby did not vote to raise your taxes; he put forth a bill to reduce your taxes.”

Herman Cain summed up his participation saying, “I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to refute a lie.” Herman continued, “When they attack the Fair Tax with that lie that they run on TV, they also attacked a great Senator, Saxby Chambliss.”

Governor Mike Huckabee, a staunch supporter of the Fair Tax, was unable to attend the rally but sent the following letter:

Unfortunately, I could not be there with you today as you gather to rally in support of the Fair Tax.

Many of you often heard me say during the past Presidential campaign that I would have liked to be the President that nails the going-out-of-business sign on the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) doors, well Congressman John Linder and Senator Saxby Chambliss feel the same way.

Just imagine, April 15 as just another beautiful spring day, not the dreaded day it has become for so many Americans.

How can you and I make this happen? The answer is amazingly simple - we need to enact the Fair Tax. And the only way that can happen is by electing strong leaders like Sen. Chambliss and Congressman Linder that will work to get the job done.

The fair tax would allow the American people to keep 100% of their paychecks.

Now the skeptics will say the Fair Tax will increase prices and is impossible to enact. Well it won’t, and it’s not. What I do know is this: the Fair Tax doesn’t have a chance if we don’t have the right courage and the right leadership in Congress to see the task through.

The latest attack on Senator Chambliss and the Fair Tax is deplorable, because it deliberately distorts the facts. The ad gives no evidence in support of its claim, only quotes taken out of context and the same old rhetoric we have come to expect from the far left. We cannot let these misrepresentations stand, they must be corrected.

I applaud Congressman Linder and Senator Chambliss for their steadfast support of not only the Fair Tax, but the conservative principles of Life, Marriage, and the 2nd amendment.

Fighting for the Cause,

Mike Huckabee

“It just shows you out of touch Chuck Schumer is and how out of touch Jim Martin to pick this issue that is so popular in the state where the people of Georgia are so knowledgeable about it to come to Georgia to try tell to Georgians how to vote,” Saxby said.

Saxby is seeking re-election for his second term in the United States Senate. His re-election has been endorsed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, 180 Georgia County Commissioners, 190 city officials, 239 law enforcement officers, over 100 Georgia Democrats including Zell Miller, Georgia’s seven Republican members of Congress, U.S. Senator Johnny Isakson, T. Boone Pickens, Georgia veterans including Vets for Freedom political action committee and the Veterans of Foreign Wars political action committee, National Federation of Independent Business, the National Community Pharmacists Association. He is the Ranking Republican Member of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry and a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and the Senate Rules Committee. Senator Chambliss previously represented Georgia’s 8th congressional district for four terms in the U.S. House of Representatives where he served as the Chairman of the House Intelligence Subcommittee on Terrorism and Homeland Security.
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Chamber Forum on Education Funding Sobering

In an effort to educate the community on the complex issues of education funding, the Chamber presented a forum on October 2nd featuring a very knowledgeable panel of key national, state, and local speakers, each with particular expertise in education funding. Following their presentations, the speakers were available for a question and answer session.

To begin at the national level, Mr. Dennis Bega, Senior Policy Advisor, US Department of Education, spoke about the No Child Left Behind congressional statute (NCLB). The intent of NCLB was to ensure that all students had the opportunity to receive an education that would allow them to maximize their potential. Despite an increase in federal funding to help school districts comply with requirements, NCLB has created budget challenges at the local level.

Representative Jan Jones, Vice Chairman, House Appropriations Committee – Education, gave an informative overview of the State Education Budget. Funding for education is a primary responsibility of state government with 39% of the total budget going to K-12 education. Due to the economic slowdown, a 3.5% reduction in education funding will likely occur next year. State Funds account for a little over 50% of public school funding on average. The remainder is funded by Federal (7.19%) and local (41.27%) dollars. Local funding statewide consists of property tax and E-SPLOST (optional) revenues.

The local perspective was given by Dr. John DeCotis, Superintendent, Fayette County Board of Education. Dr. DeCotis spoke on the excellence of the Fayette County public school system based on a variety of state and national standards, detailed current needs and where cuts have already been made. The Fayette County Board of Education is asking Fayette County residents to consider a Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax (SPLOST) to help make up budget shortfalls as state funding for education is reduced. Based on declines in sales tax receipts, the Governor’s office anticipates a K-12 funding reduction of 2% for this year ($153 million) and 3.5% ($229 million) for 2010.

Dr. DeCotis also outlined the projects that would be funded by the E-SPLOST if it passes.

The forum provided an opportunity for citizens to gain a broad perspective on the issue before they vote in November. The entire forum will be posted on the Chamber website at www.FayetteChamber.org.

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Conference Examines State Tax Policy Proposals September 11

Towards a Better Understanding of Property Taxes & Proposed Policies
8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 11, 2008
Capitol Education Center, 180 Central Avenue, Atlanta, GA

When lawmakers convene for the 2009 session of the Georgia General Assembly in January, a number of new tax proposals could be on the table, including limits on levies and caps on assessment increases.

To wade through the proposals, and the current landscape of current Georgia tax policy, the Fiscal Research Center at Georgia State University will hold a conference on the property tax as it exists, and the likely effects of changes under consideration.

“Towards a Better Understanding of Property Taxes & Proposed Policies” will be held from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 11 at the Capitol Education Center, 180 Central Ave., Atlanta.

Including presentations from officials from Georgia’s Department of Revenue and economic experts from states that have implemented assessment limits and levy caps, Fiscal Research Center Director Dave Sjoquist said the seminar will provide objective information to lawmakers, local elected officials and fiscal policy watchers.

“People will have a much better understanding of how the property tax works and have information on these two policies and the consequences they might have for Georgia,” he said.
The Fiscal Research Center, housed in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State, is a nonpartisan fiscal policy and education center which provides technical assistance and information to state and local governments.

Vicki Lambert, director of the Local Government Services division of the state revenue department, will give an overview of the current Georgia tax structure. Sjoquist will discuss options for reducing and controlling property taxes.

Mark Haveman, executive director of the Minnesota Taxpayers Association, will discuss property tax limitations, how they’re structured and their effects on local governments. Experts from Colorado, Michigan and Florida will discuss their states’ experiences with assessment limits and levy caps.

For more information about the conference, visit http://frcconference.gsu.edu/.

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