The latest plan from Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) does not have a lot of support from lobbyists, which shouldn't come as a huge shocker, considering she's targeting them with taxation.
The Democratic presidential candidate announced Wednesday that, if elected, she intends to "end lobbying as we know it" by pursing a 35 percent tax rate on corporate and trade organization lobbying if the amount is somewhere between $500 and $1 million. The progressive rate would increase to 60 percent for spending between $1 million and $5 million and 75 percent for anything over $5 million.
The idea isn't sitting too well with lobbyists, The Hill reports. In fact, they've gone so far as to call it unconstitutional.
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"Senator Warren wants to tax people because she doesn't like them exercising their right to petition the government," U.S. Chamber of Commerce Executive Vice President and Chief Policy Officer Neil Bradley told The Hill in a statement Wednesday. "I am sure lots of people would like to tax politicians who give too many speeches, but that isn't constitutional either." The Chamber of Commerce is reportedly the country's top lobbying spender and has already spent $40.6 million so far in 2019.
Meanwhile, Linda Kelly, the senior vice president of legal, general counsel, and corporate secretary, for the National Association of Manufacturers, which has spent $4.2 million so far this year said it would be "an attack on manufacturers' First Amendment rights."
Warren's proposal is one aspect of her broader anti-corruption plan. Read more at The Hill.
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