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===Contribution from Koch-tied Center to Protect Patients Rights=== In 2010, ATR received $4,189,000 from the Koch-linked [[Center to Protect Patient Rights]] (CPPR) ([[#Funding|see below for more]]).<ref>American Bridge, [http://conservativetransparency.org/transaction/1467947center-to-protect-patient-rightsamericans-for-tax-reform/ Center to Protect Patient Rights Financial Records], ConservativeTransparency.org, accessed June 24, 2014.</ref> The Center's contribution amounted to approximately a third of ATR's revenue in 2010, which was almost $12.4 million.<refname="2010 990">GuideStar, [http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2010/521/403/2010-521403587-07b65925-9O.pdf Americans for Tax Reform 2010 Form 990], GuideStar.org, accessed June 24, 2014.</ref> The CenterCPPR, a [[501(c)(4)]] group now known as [[American Encore]], receives a the bulk of its funding from the Koch-backed funding organizations [[TC4 Trust]] and the Kochs' [[Freedom Partners]] , and is overseen by "Koch operative" [[Sean Noble]].<ref>American Bridge, [http://conservativetransparency.org/results/?q=Center+to+Protect+Patient+Rights&sf Center to Protect Patient Rights Financial Records], ConservativeTransparency.org, accessed June 24, 2014.</ref><ref>Kim Baker, [http://www.propublica.org/article/the-dark-money-man-how-sean-noble-moved-the-kochs-cash-into-politics-and-ma The Dark Money Man: How Sean Noble Moved the Kochs' Cash into Politics and Made Millions], ''Pro Publica'', February 14, 2014.</ref> ===Koch Family Foundation Contribution to Americans for Tax Reform Foundation===
===Americans for Prosperity and Americans for Tax Reform ATR Launch Anti-Tax Effort in Tennessee=(2014)==
revising intro, reorganizing Koch ties to reduce atypical headers, revising headers to be more informative, finding references for norquist, removing unsourced info to talk page
{{#badges: Koch Exposed | AEX}}Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) is ostensibly a an anti-tax lobbying group that pushes for lower taxes founded in 1985 by [[Grover Norquist]], whom the ''New York Times'' has called "one of the Republican Party's most influential policy strategists."<ref name="shenon">Philip Shenon, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/politics/10abramoff.html $25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush]," ''New York Times'', March 10, 2006. Accessed July 8, 2014. It </ref> ATR has close ties to the [[Republican Party]] and has frequently allied itself with the [[tobacco industry]]. ATR describes itself as a group that "believes in a system in which taxes are simpler, flatter, more visible, and lower than they are today. The government's power to control one's life derives from its power to tax. We believe that power should be minimized."<ref>Americans for Tax Reform, [http://www.atr.org/about About Americans for Tax Reform], organization website, accessed May 22, 2013.</ref>
{{Template:KochConnection}}
ATR has several significant ties to the [[Koch brothers]] and their network of conservative donors.
ATR has also received money directly from the Kochs. In 2012, Americans for Tax Reform's [[501(c)(3)]] arm, the Americans for Tax Reform Foundation, accepted $50,000 from the [[Claude R. Lambe Foundation]], one of the [[Koch Family Foundations]].<ref>American Bridge, [http://conservativetransparency.org/transaction/claude-r-lambe-charitable-foundation2012-4/ Claude R. Lambe Foundation Financial Records], ConservativeTransparency.org, accessed June 24, 2014.</ref>
In 2014, the Kochs' [[Americans for Prosperity]] and ATR, along with other conservative interests, launched an effort to thwart Tennessee's Republican governor, Bill Haslam, and a small group of legislators who opposed a bill in the state legislature that would have repealed investment and savings funds taxes, the only form of personal income tax there.<ref name="taxsin">Rachel Bade, [http://www.politico.com/story/2014/03/grover-norquist-koch-brothers-tennessee-republicans-investment-tax-104919.html Norquist, Koch group take on Tennessee Republicans for tax sin], ''Politico'', March 24, 2014.</ref>
==Recent Controversies==
===The Center for Worker FreedomATR Group Fights Effort to Unionize Auto Workers (2014)===
According to its website, the Center for Worker Freedom (CWF) is "a non-profit, educational organization dedicated to warning the public about the causes and consequences of unionization," a "special project" of ATR.<ref>Center for Worker Freedom, [http://workerfreedom.org/about About], project website, accessed May 20, 2014.</ref> According to a report by MSNBC, the center is the recent successor of a previous ATR project called the Alliance for Worker Freedom ([[#Alliance for Worker Freedom|see below for more]]), which dated back to 1998.<ref>Timothy Noah, [http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/grover-norquist-union-buster Why Has Grover Norquist Entered the Union-Busting Business?], ''MSNBC'', February 19, 2014.</ref>
CWF's aggressive public relations campaign included several billboards and radio ad buys tying unions to liberal politics and economic failure in Detroit.<ref>Matt Patterson, Americans for Tax Reform, [http://www.atr.org/center-worker-freedom-launches-anti-uaw-a8120 Center for Worker Freedom Launches Anti-UAW Billboard Campaign in Chattanooga], organizational blog, February 4, 2014.</ref> Among other things, one ad depicted the UAW as a mouthpiece for [[Barack Obama]], whose approval ratings at the time were low, and another showed a dilapidated building in Detroit, which had filed for bankruptcy months earlier, claiming the city's economic decline was due to the union and its policies.<ref>Kevin Drawbaugh and Nick Carey, [http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/22/us-autos-uaw-election-analysis-idUSBREA1L13220140222 Thirteen billboards, one paint-shop worker helped defeat union at VW plant in Chattanooga], ''Reuters'', February 22, 2014.</ref>
===IRS Complaint Against ATR for Disparity in Political Spending Reports (2012 Activities)===
In 2012, ATR claimed, according to documents from [[Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington]] (CREW), that it spent $15.8 million on independent expenditures as it reported to the Federal Election Commission. However, on separate tax documents, ATR told the IRS it spent only $9.8 million on its political campaigns that same year, presenting a significant disparity between the two reported totals.<ref name="CREW">Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, [http://www.citizensforethics.org/legal-filings/entry/crew-irs-doj-complaint-against-americans-for-tax-reform-grover-norquist CREW Files IRS and DOJ Complaint Against Americans for Tax Reform and Grover Norquist], organizational website, November 19, 2013.</ref> In response, CREW filed a complaint with the IRS and the Department of Justice in November 2013, alleging that "ATR and Mr. Norquist violated federal law by deliberately providing false information to the IRS when ATR filed its 2012 Tax Form 990".<ref name="CREW"/>
*the Koch-affiliated [[Center to Protect Patient Rights]]
*[[Karl Rove]]'s [[Crossroads GPS]]
*[[Donors Trust]], which has funneled a Koch moneyconduit
*the [Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation]]
*the Carthage Foundation (see [[Scaife Foundations]])
*[[Philip Morris]] (now [[Altria]]
*the [[Tobacco Institute]]
*[[Jack Abramoff]]'s clients, the Chiefs of the Kickapoo Traditional Tribe of Texas and the Coushattas tribe of Louisiana, both gave $25,000 in 2001<ref>Philip Shenon, [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/10/politics/10abramoff.html?ei=5070&en=1870d0e1b1c33db4&ex=1149998400&pagewantedname=print $25,000 to Lobby Group Is Tied to Access to Bush], ''The New York Times'', March 10, 2006.<"shenon"/ref>
===Contribution from Koch-tied Center to Protect Patients Rights===
In 2010, ATR received $4,189,000 from the Koch-linked [[Center to Protect Patient Rights]] ([[#Funding|see below for more]]CPPR).<ref>American Bridge, [http://conservativetransparency.org/transaction/1467947center-to-protect-patient-rightsamericans-for-tax-reform/ Center to Protect Patient Rights Financial Records], ConservativeTransparency.org, accessed June 24, 2014.</ref> The Center's contribution amounted to approximately a third of ATR's revenue in 2010, which was almost $12.4 million.<ref>GuideStar, [http://www.guidestar.org/FinDocuments/2010/521/403/2010-521403587-07b65925-9O.pdf Americans for Tax Reform 2010 Form 990], GuideStar.org, accessed June 24, 2014.</ref> The CenterCPPR, a [[501(c)(4)]] group now known as [[American Encore]], receives a the bulk of its funding from the Koch-backed funding organizations [[TC4 Trust]] and the Kochs' [[Freedom Partners]] , and is overseen by "Koch operative" [[Sean Noble]].<ref>American Bridge, [http://conservativetransparency.org/results/?q=Center+to+Protect+Patient+Rights&sf Center to Protect Patient Rights Financial Records], ConservativeTransparency.org, accessed June 24, 2014.</ref><ref>Kim Baker, [http://www.propublica.org/article/the-dark-money-man-how-sean-noble-moved-the-kochs-cash-into-politics-and-ma The Dark Money Man: How Sean Noble Moved the Kochs' Cash into Politics and Made Millions], ''Pro Publica'', February 14, 2014.</ref>
===Koch Family Foundation Contribution to Americans for Tax Reform Foundation===
Spokespeople from both ATR and Crossroads didn't respond to ''Pro Publica'''s request for comment on the allegation.
==Personnel ==
ATR is headed by [[Grover Norquist]], "one of the Republican Party's most connected members of influential policy strategists," according to the new [[right-wing]] movement''New York Times''. <ref name="shenon"/> He has close ties to the Republican Party, large U.S. business interests, and both the subsidized and regular U.S. media. Norquist helped the [[Heritage Foundation]] write the Republican's 1994 [[Contract With America]]. <ref> "[http://theweek.com/article/index/217015/grover-norquist-the-man-who-killed-tax-increases Grover Norquist: The man who killed tax increases]," ''The Week'', July 8, 2011. Accessed July 8, 2014.</ref>
Shortly thereafter, Norquist led a right wing charge to "de-fund" the left, declaring that "We will hunt [these liberal groups] down one by one and extinguish their funding sources." Norquist has also worked as a <ref> "[[lobbyist]] for clients including [[Microsoft]http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1995-08-19/news/9508190001_1_non-profits-lobbying-defense-spending A Dangerous Curb On Free Speech], [[American Business for Legal Immigration]], [[Distilled Spirits Council]]" ''Chicago Tribune'', [[Edison Electric Institute]]August 19, [[Interactive Gaming Council]]1995. Accessed July 8, and [[British Petroleum]]2014.</ref>
==History==
