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Interest Groups in Taxation

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A part of the “darker side” of Washington is considered by the American public as interest groups. Even James Madison described them in the federalist papers he wrote in 1787 as “factions” that could be dangerous. The modern day hasn’t changed much. People today largely agree with Madison in how they view interest groups. What interest groups do, how they are supported, and what their stances are an interesting mix of controversy, clash, and representation. Interest groups are there to represent the people, usually a portion of the people. This representation stems from either a view point or stance for a plethora of issues. There are hundreds of different interest groups that represent view points from big business. Interest groups …show more content…

Another benefit of being in a coalition is that it shows more support for the issue by more people when there is a coalition of organizations over just one group. Coalitions can build support for many goals, such as tax policies, that are on the agenda for today for lobbyists such as Americans for tax reform. Americans for Tax Reform is an interest group that deals with addressing tax issues. This interest group primarily lobbies for a flat tax. They don’t care if it is a flat sales tax or a flat income tax but they want a flat tax. This interest group is most similar to individualistic conservatives’ ideology. The major parallel this group has to the individual conservatives group is that they both believe in flat taxation. The biggest policy that Americans for Tax Reform want the tax code to be broken down to limit government power over certain individuals and to make the system equal for all. This interest group has been funded by most notably Microsoft and Time Warner. They are also funded by the general public in the form of anonymous donations, which is similar to another interest group called Americans for Fair Taxation. The next interest group is Americans for Fair Taxation. This interest group calls for a national sales tax. They describe this national sales tax as being more effective than the current 3 million word tax code currently implemented by the federal government.

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