Vote Rescheduled for Tomorrow, Friday, September 5th at 10am! Keep Up the Pressure!!!

September 4, 2003

Action Alert! Action Alert!

APC is now offering you a quick and easy way to multiply your efforts and help win more battles! Simply click http://www.referralblast.com/rblast.asp?sid=7137 to send this APC Action Alert to up to TEN of your friends! It’s fast, it’s easy, and most of all, it’s extremely effective in KILLING LEFTIST POLICIES!

Your phone calls and faxes are working!

We have forced the vote on the land trust tax favoritism amendment to be delayed until tomorrow morning! This is a positive sign—HOWEVER, THE FIGHT IS FAR FROM OVER.

We must continue to pound away at the phone lines. The greens and The Nature Conservancy’s army of slick lobbyists will be working overtime, today, tonight and tomorrow morning to twist the arms of Congress to get their special tax loophole added to H.R. 7 (The CARE Act).

WE MUST WORK OVERTIME TOO!!!

We have one more day to make our voices heard. This is it. It’s a showdown that property owners can’t afford to lose.

Multibillion-dollar, green land trusts like the ever-corrupt Nature Conservancy are demanding that Congress add a loophole to H.R. 7 that will discount 50% off of capital gains taxes for a seller of land—BUT only if land is sold to a land trust or government agency! This places EVERYONE ELSE at an extreme comparative disadvantage when attempting to purchase land.

This will severely devalue private property. It will discourage private parties from even bidding on land, so the only offers for land will be made by the land-grabbing green groups and government agencies.

This unfair tax advantage would enable The Nature Conservancy and their greedy cohorts to swallow private property at a RECORD PACE.

The American Land Rights Association and property rights expert, Mike Hardiman, have spelled out all the gory details. Here is what they say:

a) It will damage the property tax base of communities since more and more land will become tax-exempt. This increases the tax burden on remaining private land—while the Land Trusts sit back, not paying any taxes, and lick their chops deciding who to go after next.

b) It will hand over more land to government agencies, since this Tax Favoritism proposal permits the tax break for sales of land—ONLY to Land Trusts or government agencies.

c) It will cost, according the House-Senate Joint Taxation Committee, $948 million – (nearly a BILLION dollars!) added to America’s national debt, just to feed the Land Trusts hunger for more power.

d) Land Trusts, since they are “non-profits,” already have huge business advantages over private individuals, since they don’t pay taxes and contributions to them are tax deductible. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!!!

e) This Tax Favoritism proposal will discourage private parties from even bidding on land, so many times the only offers for land will be made by the twin buzzards of Land Trusts and government agencies. Do you think you will get a fair price from them???

f) WATER RIGHTS. The Land Trusts are demanding that this Tax Favoritism include sales of water rights, damaging future agriculture use.

They HAVE to be stopped!

AGAIN, we now have only one more day to bombard Congress with phone calls, faxes and E-mails!

GO! GO! GO!

** ACTION TO TAKE**

1. Contact the following members of the House Ways and Means Committee and tell them NO TAX FAVORITISM FOR LAND TRUSTS IN H.R. 7!!! Land trusts and federal agencies should NOT be able to peddle a 50% capital gains tax cut to sellers of property. It makes it impossible for others to compete with them when purchasing land! (Phone calls and faxes are most effective at this late hour. E-mails are important too, but may or may not be read in time tohave an impact on tomorrow’s vote.)

William Thomas (R-CA) PHONE (202) 225-2915 — FAX (202) 225-8798 – E-mail: [email protected]

Philip Crane (R-IL) PHONE (202) 225-3711 – FAX (202) 225-7830 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/crane

Nancy Johnson (R-CT) PHONE (202 225- 4476 – FAX (202 225-4488 – E-mail — go to www.house.gov/nancyjohnson

Amory Houghton (R-NY) PHONE (202) 225-3161 – FAX (202) 225-5574 – E-mail – go to www.houghton.house.gov

Wally Herger (R-CA) PHONE (202) 225- 3076 – No fax listed – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/herger

Jim McCrery (R-LA) PHONE (202) 225-2777 – FAX (202) 225-8039 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/mccrery

Dave Camp (R-MI) PHONE (202) 225-3561 – FAX (202) 225-9679 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/camp

Jim Ramstad (R-MN) PHONE (202) 225-2871 – FAX (202) 225-6351 – E-mail: [email protected]

Jim Nussle (R-IA) PHONE (202) 225-2911 – FAX (202) 225-9129 – E-mail: [email protected]

Sam Johnson (R-TX) PHONE (202) 225-4201 – FAX (202) 225-1485 – E-mail – go to www.samjohnson.house.gov

Jennifer Dunn (R-WA) PHONE (202) 225-7761 – FAX (202) 225-8673 – E-mail: [email protected]

Michael Collins (R-GA) PHONE (202) 225-5901 – FAX (202) 225-2515 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/maccollins

Rob Portman (R-OH) PHONE (202) 225-3164 – FAX (202) 225-1992 – E-mail: [email protected]

Philip English (R-PA) PHONE (202) 225-5406 – FAX (202) 225-3103 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/english

J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ) PHONE (202) 225-2190 – FAX (202) 225-3263 – E-mail: [email protected]

Jerry Weller (R-IL) PHONE (202) 225-3635 – FAX (202) 225-3521 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/weller

Kenny Hulshof (R-MO) PHONE (202) 225-2956 – FAX (202) 225-5712 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/hulshof

Scott McInnis (R-CO) PHONE (202) 225-4761 – FAX (202) 225-0622 – E-mail –go to www.house.gov/mcinnis

Ron Lewis (R-KY) PHONE (202) 225-3501 – FAX (202) 225-2019 – E-mail: [email protected]

Mark Foley (R-FL) PHONE (202) 225-5792 – FAX (202) 225-3132 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/foley

Kevin Brady (R-TX) PHONE (202) 225-4901 – FAX (202) 225-5524 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/brady

Paul Ryan (R-WI) PHONE (202) 225-3031 – FAX (202) 225-3393 – E-mail – go to www.house.gov/ryan

Eric Cantor (R-VA) PHONE (202) 225-2815 – FAX (202) 225-0011 – E-mail – go to www.cantor.house.gov

2. Call your own Representative, no matter who it is, and tell them NO land trust tax favoritism in H.R. 7! It doesn’t matter if your congressman is conservative or liberal—THEY MUST HEAR FROM YOU! ANY congressman could go either way on this issue so let’s bring them over to OUR SIDE. House Switchboard: (202) 225-3121.

3. Contact Congressmen Roy Blunt and Richard Pombo. They are fighting hard for property rights and do NOT want to give the multibillion-dollar land trusts and government agencies ANY tax advantages in their never-ending quest to gobble up more and more private property. THANK THEM and let them know they have your support!

For Rep. Roy Blunt, please contact:
April Ponnuru – [email protected]

For Rep. Richard Pombo, please contact:
Laura Hylden – [email protected]

***PLEASE FORWARD TO AS MANY PEOPLE AS POSSIBLE***

Avatar
Tom DeWeese
[email protected]

Tom DeWeese is President of the American Policy Center and National Grassroots Coordinator for CFACT (Committee for a Constructive Tomorrow) working to help local activists organize into Freedom Pods (www.CFACT.org). He is also the author of three books, including Now Tell Me I Was Wrong, ERASE, and Sustainable: the WAR on Free Enterprise, Private Property, and Individuals.