A Taxing Pledge Of Loyalty
Why a vow not to raise taxes is so hard to break
This winter, Kentucky State Rep. Stephen Nunn considered doing what would have been unthinkable a decade ago: supporting a tax hike. So, having signed antitax crusader Grover Norquist's "no new taxes" pledge during his 1996 race, Nunn wrote Norquist to rescind the pledge. He quickly discovered that it wouldn't be that easy. Norquist replied by outlining the arduous process for getting off the pledge list maintained by his group, Americans for Tax Reform. Nunn would have to hold a press conference with Norquist--and win re-election on a pro-tax platform. "I do not have the power to release you . . . ," Norquist wrote. "Only your voters can do that."
That didn't sit well with Nunn, a Republican. In his reply to Norquist, Nunn detailed half a billion dollars in tax cuts he'd supported, arguing that his record should permit him to back a tax increase now that the Bluegrass State was facing a budget shortfall. "I don't know if you concur . . .," Nunn wrote. "Quite frankly, I don't care. . . . You no longer have standing with me."
Nunn isn't alone. After signing up in the boom years of the late '90s, legislators in a handful of states say they want off Norquist's list. In Virginia last year, pledge signers were among a group of Republicans to break party ranks and support a $1.4 billion tax increase. In Colorado, Gov. Bill Owens, another pledge signer, is promoting a ballot initiative that would let the state keep more tax revenue. Norquist calls it a pledge violation. But a number of disgruntled signers are now complaining that they were never told their names would stay on until they left office and say it's all but impossible to get off the list. "[It's] the difference between the insulated D.C. world of theory . . . versus the world of budget practicality," says Preston Bryant, a Republican Virginia lawmaker.
Visibility. Norquist may not be a household name, but he holds tremendous sway in Washington and was a driving force behind President George W. Bush's tax cuts. "No individual has the same visibility among antitax advocates," says Tax Foundation President Scott Hodge. Much of Norquist's influence stems from Americans for Tax Reform's pledge, signed by almost every Republican in Congress.
Norquist introduced the pledge to federal officeholders in 1985 and expanded it to the states in the early '90s; he now has the signatures of more than 1,250 state legislators, almost 1 in 4 nationally. Norquist points to recently scuttled tax-hike proposals in Kentucky and Indiana as evidence that the pledge works. Prospective signers are notified in writing that the pledge is for the duration of their time in office, Norquist says, adding that "when somebody runs and says, 'I'm pro-life,' do any of them think it means for the next two years?" Only 15 state lawmakers have formally inquired about getting off the list since 2003, and only one politician has successfully done so: former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, who was defeated last year.
But some consider themselves off even if they haven't tried to remove their names. "I don't care what Norquist says," says Jeff Espich, a Republican lawmaker in Indiana who hasn't sought to remove his name. "I'm off." David Wolkins, another Republican in the Indiana legislature, held a press conference this winter to rescind his pledge, but Norquist says he wasn't notified early enough to attend. "They don't want any Indians leaving the reservation," says Wolkins, "because there might be a mass exodus." Americans for Tax Reform does track pledge breakers in its "hall of shame."
Some legislators say that broken pledges have cost them little. In this week's Virginia primaries, Bryant and another lawmaker who signed the pledge and supported last year's tax hike are facing relatively light opposition. So why even bother trying to get off Norquist's list? Some lawmakers chafe at what they consider his bullying. "Who is this guy from Washington telling us what to do in Kentucky?" says Jim Gooch, a Democratic House member there.
But for first-time candidates, Norquist's pledge can help establish an identity. South Carolina freshman legislator Joan Brady credits a state pledge modeled on ATR's pledge with helping her win a four-way GOP primary last year. But Brady says she didn't know that it was an office-long commitment or that she'd end up on Norquist's list. "I want to live up to the pledge, but if something drastic happens . . . I'm beholden to my constituents," she says. "Not to any organization."
This story appears in the June 20, 2005 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.