Will Lawmakers Burden Taxpayers with Municipal Campaign Expenses During Economic Collapse?

As People Lose Jobs, Homes, AFP Insists Taxpayers Should Not Be Forced To Support Political Campaigns

Test Vote This Week: Do Lawmakers Understand Taxpayer Outrage?

RALEIGH─ As taxpayers gather for “tea parties” in cities all across North Carolina to protest the growing tax burden, AFP urges members of the North Carolina State House to oppose House Bill 120, which would force taxpayers into funding campaigns for municipal office. The bill is scheduled for a NC House vote this week.

“The thousands of grassroots members of Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina are dedicated to free markets, lower taxes and limited government. We are concerned about the ever growing burden placed on taxpayers through forced public funding of political campaigns,” said Dallas Woodhouse-state director of Americans for Prosperity-North Carolina.

In a recent AFP study, 62 percent of North Carolina residents report that state taxes are too high. Yet House Bill 120 could add another burden to taxpayers.

“This is not the time to subject taxpayers to another financial burden. Taxpayers have had enough, said Woodhouse. ”And they certainly should not be forced to fund campaigns they disagree with. House Bill 120 could, for the first time, force taxpayers to fund politicians for which they can’t even vote because they live in a city that does not elect all its representatives on an at-large basis.”

In addition, the constitutionality of taxpayer financing of elections is still up for debate since the recent United States Supreme Court decision in Davis v. FEC.

“The legislature should not be expanding these unconstitutional programs,” said Woodhouse. “But rather the General Assembly should be repealing them.”

The complete AFP taxpayer study results can be viewed here: http://www.americansforprosperity.org/030209-study-finds-north-carolina-...