Taken from the latest issue of the CATS ‘Progress Report’ newsletter:
Over the Summer and Through the Elections...
To a New Future We Go!
In just a few months we elect a new President, one-third of the Senate, and the entire House of Representatives. These are the people who will extract and spend a national budget of one trillion, seven hundred billion dollars!
In earlier times, before the now discredited Keynesian economic idea that increasing government spending promoted economic growth, it did not matter much the kind of tax system in place. Government spending was small when compared to the Gross Domestic Product, the measurement of the production of all of us combined.
Today, it is much different Each of us has a lot at stake in the decisions made by politicians. Nearly 40% of your production is transferred to government. The quantity of money taken out of the private sector and the method of extraction have long and lasting effects on how we live our lives. Since the tendency of politicians is to expand their area of influence, it is the citizen in communication with its government that will bring sanity to the situation we face.
We are in times of unprecedented rapid change and what we call "reality" today could be quite different come the decisions made in November and their implementation next January.
We should act as if the goal of our efforts is near. Just as a reminder, the future is not yet written!. What we do each day matters.
New Members
With Congress out of session over the summer months this is the time we can take to get new members. We have three activities to push our numbers up.
First: We are producing a new membership form that will contain all the information one needs to become a member. Its appearance and message will attract. The entire CATS Network will receive copies and all you will have to do is give out the forms and wait for the membership check. Bulk mail gets a 2 to 3% response rate, but CATS members asking friends and work associates to join has a MUCH higher return rate.
Second: The Business World News segment is airing 12 additional times this summer. The CATS Web Site is more prominently displayed in this version which should give us more return response.
Three: CATS will air the 30 minute infomercial and its 30 and 60 second spots on cable TV. In working with TVA, the producers of the Business World News show, we can get good rates for multiple showings. This will require financial support from our network but will generate quantities of reaches. We will test each spot for effectiveness and then run those that produce the best results.
The Post Cards
Turning to the Fall, we will launch the post card campaign aimed directly at the Presidential Candidates. We are inviting other groups to join in on this campaign to increase the numbers and the impact. One element of the campaign is to educate the media on the subject so they have the story and can incorporate our line of reasoning as part of the Presidential campaign coverage.
Letter to all CATS Members, taken from the latest issue of the CATS 'Progress Report' newsletter:
Citizens for an Alternative Tax System
National Office
10600 A Crestwood Drive
Manassas, VA 20109
Voice: (800) 767-7577
Fax: (703) 368-5843
Website: www.cats.org
Dear CATS members:
During Tax Week, I spent several days in the Ways and Means Committee Hearing Room, gavel to gavel, and came away with a sense that this battle is being won.
There is no "one moment" or "one event" that can be held up as the turning point, yet movement toward fundamental tax reform is occurring. Over and above the immediate tendency to make nothing out of the testimony if it came from the "other" political party, the Congressmen by and large, were in a more affirmative mood than in times gone by. All commented that there had been lots of communication in their districts about getting rid of the income tax! (Even though it sometimes doesn't seem like it, they ARE listening!) Considerable consternation was visible concerning the high rates of some proposals but there is recognition that the people want change and that our future well-being dictates we choose something more suitable to the information age and international commerce. Tauzin and Traficant were stellar in their performance on day two. I wish you could have been there.
We have a consensus at the grass roots level. Congress knows we exist, knows our message and is leaning in the direction of fundamental tax reform. The missing element is leadership (Tauzin and Traficant aside). We need champions who can make the issue visible and articulate the message in such a- way that it gains the necessary momentum
The goals of the CATS Campaign 2000 are to encourage leadership, to keep the message visible and to impinge sufficiently to gain political attention. Over the summer we hope that you will take advantage of the time that you are out and about to tell the sales tax story and to actively recruit people to become CATS members.
We need your continued financial support particularly as we approach E Day! Through our association with Business World News, we can get good rates on cable channels to air the infomercial and our 30 and 60 second spots. We need additional money for printing of the new membership form and new brochure. We will distribute the postcards via a direct mail campaign with those attendant costs.
To encourage your participation and interest, we have great quantity discounts on CATS educational materials. Use the enclosed materials order form at the bottom of the four color sheet. (call CATS at 1-800-767-7577 for an order form)
To encourage donations to fund CATS Campaign 2000 we have this offer: for a donation of $100 you will receive a copy of the new CATS video release entitled, Tax Week 2000. Second best to being there, you can experience some of the highlights of the Hearings.
For a donation of $250 or more we will also include a video copy of the Business World News segment on CATS as seen on the Learning Channel (which reached a potential of 70 million homes). The show will continue to air over the next two months in regional markets. This is a high quality newscast featuring CATS as the organization moving the issue forward!
Wesley Prudin, Editor in Chief of the Washington Times, once wrote, "Voters have no permanent friends in Congress. The founding fathers designed it that way. America has only permanent interests, identified by all of us. Democrats and Republicans, conservatives and liberals."
The effects of taxation on prosperity and upon the quality of life in America make it an area of permanent interest. Please help us communicate, be visible and impinge. Help us to take advantage of the pre-election interest in politics and the desire of politicians to get elected!
Thanks much,
Glenn Wahlquist
Director of Operations
PS. Make sure to get your copy of the new video on Tax Week 2000 and also a copy of our show that appeared on the Learning Channel. And don't forget to order your educational materials. Be an idea merchant!
CATS LV Meetings...
Plan on attending our August 14 meeting, as we hope to have a copy of the dynamic “Tax Week 2000” video for you to see.
We will also have on hand free copies of the latest CATS Las Vegas Chapter flyer, “Tax Basics and How much do you actually pay in taxes?”
Free materials to assist you in spreading the message of a simple, fair tax system are available at every meeting, so take advantage it!
Our monthly meetings are fun, informative, lively and sometimes extremely entertaining. Meetings start at 7:00 p.m. and end at 8:30 p.m.
Internet Notes
For those of you with computers and Internet access, please visit CATS Las Vegas Chapter Web Site whenever you need tax reform information. If you haven’t received any email updates from me lately, it’s probably because I don’t have your email address. Send your email address to: bracken@catslv.org if you would like to recieve these updates.
TalkToGov.com
Would you like to communicate with the Government, but don’t know...
* Exactly what the issues are all about.
* Where to send your e-mail.
* Will it make a difference?
TalkToGov.com makes the issues easy to understand and puts the communication back between the government and the people.
Point your browser to talktogov.com today!
“Tell ‘em Bracken sent you!!”
