The National Taxpayers Disunion
Today, the National Taxpayers Union announced its list of Taxpayer Friend Award recipients in Congress. Certain members of Congress who got the award wrote proudly about the recognition. Representative Paul Broun‘s office wrote a press release bragging, “Congressman Paul Broun is among only a few dozen 2008 “Taxpayers’ Friend Award” recipients out of the entire House of Representatives and Senate.” Among only a few dozen? Is that a big deal in a group as small as the U.S. Congress?
The National Taxpayers Union proudly claims to be a nonpartisan organization that represents 362,000 taxpayers. That sounds impressive, but what lies behind that claim?
The number of taxpayers in the United States is estimated at around 140,000,000. That means that the National Taxpayers Union represents only one quarter of one percent of taxpayers. 99.75 percent of taxpayers choose not to join the National Taxpayers Union. That’s hardly what I’d call a union.
As for the claim of the National Taxpayers Union to be a nonpartisan organization, just take a look at which members of Congress got awards from the Union today. Every single member of the U.S. Senate that got the award was a Republican. Every member of the House that got the award was a Republican too. How is that nonpartisan
Besides, what have members of Congress like Paul Broun, favored by the National Taxpayers Union, actually done for taxpayers anyway? Representative Broun has only introduced two pieces of legislation to the House of Representatives this year. One is a bill that would forbid federal funds to any school that allows any student to say the Pledge of Allegiance in any language other than English. The other is a proposed constitutional amendment that defines a fertilized egg as having the full legal rights of a human being. I can’t think of how those laws help taxpayers in particular, given that school children and fertilized eggs don’t pay taxes.
