‘Picks Winners’
Brent Gardner, AFP’s chief government affairs officer, said the effort would most heavily focus on 21 members of the Senate in 15 states and about the same number of House members. About 100 office visits across the country are scheduled for next week.
Calling the proposal “a consumer tax” that “picks winners and losers,” Phillips said the proposal would hurt those who can least afford a tax increase.
“It’s a $1.2 trillion tax over 10 years that’s going to be particularly difficult for folks who can least afford it,” he said. “We oppose it on philosophical grounds. We oppose it because of the devastating impact it’s going to have on so many Americans.”
Gardner suggested Ryan and the House leadership are pushing a notion that could carry political costs.
“Based on the number of folks who have already come out in the Senate, this package is probably dead on arrival,” he said. House leaders should consider whether they want to put their members in the position of having to defend a vote that “does not have a future when it crosses over to the Senate.”
Koch Industries, a Wichita, Kansas-based conglomerate with interests ranging from oil and ranching to farming and the manufacturing of electrical components, would benefit from the change because it produces many products domestically, according to a statement earlier this year that was released by Koch’s lobbying arm, Koch Companies Public Sector LLC. The statement indicated the company is supportive of a comprehensive overhaul of the tax system.
AFP’s plans were shared a day after retail executives met with President Donald Trump to voice opposition to a border-tax levy.
‘Too Complicated’
AFP says it has more than 3.2 million activists in its network, which includes 35 state chapters, and financial support from more than 100,000 Americans in all 50 states.