Americans for Tax Reform

Background

The Americans for Tax Reform Foundation is the educational arm of Americans for Tax Reform, which advocates on public policy. Americans for Tax Reform supports lower taxes and was founded in 1985. It is best known for the “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” in which candidates for elected office sign a pledge never to vote for a tax increase. ²

The Americans for Tax Reform Foundation was originally named Fairness for Families when it was founded in 1985 to promote public awareness about federal income tax rates. The organization changed its name in 1991. ¹ Both organizations were founded by prominent conservative activist Grover Norquist. ³

Donations to ATR, a 501(c)(4), are not tax deductible, but donations to the ATRF, the 501(c)(3), are tax deductible to the extent permissible by law. ² Americans for Tax Reform Foundation and Americans for Tax Reform are legally and financially separate, but share the same office location, the same board of directors and have an overlapping staff, a common practice amongst public-policy-oriented nonprofits. ⁴⁵

Initiatives

The foundation promotes “Cost of Government Day,” which calculates what day in the year the average American has earned enough gross income to pay off his or her share of government spending and regulatory costs at the federal, state, and local levels. ⁶

The foundation also publishes the Index of Worker Freedom, along with the Alliance for Worker Freedoms. It is a state-by-state comparative study of the labor climate intended for researchers, policy makers, legislatures, employers, and employees. ⁷

In December 2020, the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation teamed with the Taxpayer Protection Alliance to lead 23 advocacy groups in opposing any consideration from the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) for a global minimum corporate tax. ⁸

Paycheck Protection Act Loan

In 2020, the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation took a $290,800 federal loan from the Paycheck Protection Program, according to ProPublica. The PPP loans made available to employers during the COVID-19 pandemic were 100% forgivable if the recipient did not lay off any employees. The loan to the ATRF, which supported 33 jobs, was approved on April 28, 2020. ^{9 10}

Numerous media outlets took note of an anti-tax, small government group accepting a government loan. ¹⁰ News stories also noted that Grover Norquist gets $125,000 in annual pay from the foundation and separately $125,000 from ATR, and that Norquist had criticized the unemployment insurance provisions of the CARES Act, the first major COVID-19 stimulus bill that introduced the PPP. ^{11 12}

In a statement ATR, the policy arm, noted that it neither opposed the loan program nor accepted a loan. However, the foundation — which the statement said is a “legally and financially separate research and educational 501(c)3” that was “badly hurt” by the shutdown of the economy — “applied for and received a loan and has as a consequence been able to maintain its employees without laying anyone off. ATRF does not engage in lobbying,” the ATR statement said. ⁵

Americans for Tax Reform had also noted that PPP loans are akin to “compensation for a government taking,” since government action through lockdown orders created the financial problems for employers. ¹³

Leadership

Grover Norquist is the president of both Americans for Tax Reform and the Foundation. ¹⁴ Norquist established ATR at the request of former President Ronald Reagan. He is a former economist with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, a former executive director of the National Taxpayers Union, and was on the Republican Platform Committees in 1988, 1992 and 1996. ¹⁵

Megan Worley is the vice president of finance for the ATRF. ¹⁴

Christopher Butler is the executive director for the ATRF. ¹⁴

John Kartch is the vice president of communications for the ATRF. ¹⁴

The ATR website lists these individuals in the same roles for the 501(c)(4) organization.