TPA and the PRA Lead International Coalition Against Unnecessary and Damaging New EU Bureaucracy
Jul 8, 2013
Led by the Taxpayers Protection Alliance and the Property Rights Alliance (Americans for Tax Reform’s affiliate) an international coalition of free market and taxpayer groups including the Center for Freedom and Prosperity (United States), Europeans for Tax Reform (Albania), Institute for Policy Innovation (United States), Institute of Economic and Social Studies (Slovakia), National Taxpayers Union (United States), R Street Institute (United States), Tea Party Italia (Italy), The TaxPayers’ Alliance (United Kingdom), and the Taxpayers Association of Europe called on the members of the European Parlamient to stop an unnecessary and expensive new bureaucracy that could start a trade war with the United States. The EU Commission’s recently adopted Tobacco Products Directive (TPD) bans approximately 10% of all cigarettes sold on the European market today. It forces roughly 10 million smokers to find their product through illegal channels, thereby putting them at risk and hollowing out any potential revenue. In a letter to João Vale de Almeida, the European Union (EU) ambassador to the United States, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) expressed their concerns about how the TPD will affect trade when they noted, “While the United States and the EU’s trade and economic relationship is unparalleled and provides significant benefits to those on both sides of the Atlantic, we have serious concerns about the TPD and its impact on transatlantic trade relations.” In the middle of an unprecedented financial crisis, this overzealous TPD proposal ignores the concerns of millions of taxpayers and places hundreds of thousands of jobs at risk.
Please read the coalition letter to the Members of the European Parliament: userfiles/TPD coalition letter .pdf