2008 Woodie Awards
Tax union highlights Boehner's fiscal record
Ann Koblenzer
Issue date: 4/15/08 Section: Community
U.S. House of Representatives minority leader John Boehner (R-West Chester) received the 2007 Taxpayers' Friend Award from the National Taxpayers Union (NTU) for voting with the union on 87 percent of tax-related bills.
NTU is the nation's oldest and largest taxpayers group with more than 350,000 members. According to Kristina Rasmussen, director of government affairs for NTU, every year the union ranks members of Congress on how consistent they voted with the position of taxpayers.
Lower taxes, less regulation, lower spending and free trade are the main goals of bills that correspond with the aims of the union, according to Rasmussen.
In 2007, there were 427 votes involving taxes in the House of Representatives and almost 200 in the Senate. NTU only assigned scores to Congress members who voted on at least 50 percent of these tax bills.
"It's really a useful tool," Rasmussen said. "It doesn't just take 10 key votes, we take every single vote. It is extremely comprehensive."
In 2006, Boehner only received a B-, voting with NTU 59 percent of the time. In 2007 he received an A with 87 percent agreement, ranking him 24th in the House.
"We are thrilled that Boehner decided to vote more often with taxpayers than with Congress," Rasmussen said.
Miami University professor of political science Chris Kelley said the Republicans losing the House majority could have influenced his jump in the rankings.
"In 2006, when (Boehner) was in the majority, he could access the money a lot easier than he can now," Kelley said. "(Boehner) has always been fairly stringent on earmark spending, but he continued to support the spending of the Republican Congress up until (the party) lost (the majority) in 2006."
Boehner's press secretary, Jessica Towhey, said Ohio residents work too hard to have their money go to projects that get wasted on pork-barrel projects.
"Ohio taxpayers send too many of their hard earned dollars to Washington to see them wasted on pork-barrel projects and bureaucratic nonsense," Towhey said via e-mail. "With higher prices at the pump, the supermarket and elsewhere, the last thing middle-class families need is to pay higher taxes for more wasteful Washington spending."
NTU is the nation's oldest and largest taxpayers group with more than 350,000 members. According to Kristina Rasmussen, director of government affairs for NTU, every year the union ranks members of Congress on how consistent they voted with the position of taxpayers.
Lower taxes, less regulation, lower spending and free trade are the main goals of bills that correspond with the aims of the union, according to Rasmussen.
In 2007, there were 427 votes involving taxes in the House of Representatives and almost 200 in the Senate. NTU only assigned scores to Congress members who voted on at least 50 percent of these tax bills.
"It's really a useful tool," Rasmussen said. "It doesn't just take 10 key votes, we take every single vote. It is extremely comprehensive."
In 2006, Boehner only received a B-, voting with NTU 59 percent of the time. In 2007 he received an A with 87 percent agreement, ranking him 24th in the House.
"We are thrilled that Boehner decided to vote more often with taxpayers than with Congress," Rasmussen said.
Miami University professor of political science Chris Kelley said the Republicans losing the House majority could have influenced his jump in the rankings.
"In 2006, when (Boehner) was in the majority, he could access the money a lot easier than he can now," Kelley said. "(Boehner) has always been fairly stringent on earmark spending, but he continued to support the spending of the Republican Congress up until (the party) lost (the majority) in 2006."
Boehner's press secretary, Jessica Towhey, said Ohio residents work too hard to have their money go to projects that get wasted on pork-barrel projects.
"Ohio taxpayers send too many of their hard earned dollars to Washington to see them wasted on pork-barrel projects and bureaucratic nonsense," Towhey said via e-mail. "With higher prices at the pump, the supermarket and elsewhere, the last thing middle-class families need is to pay higher taxes for more wasteful Washington spending."
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