Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist released his NCAA Tournament bracket yesterday, picking the Miami Hurricanes to win the national championship. But this isn’t your typical March Madness bracket, Norquist chose winners and losers based on states with the most competitive tax climates.
Some key takeaways from Grover’s bracket:
• Miami beats Gonzaga in the championship game. While both hail from states that levy no income tax (Florida and Washington, respectively), the tiebreaker goes to Miami because of Florida’s Right to Work status.
• Kansas is the first one-seed in history to lose under Norquist’s prediction, falling to 16-seed Western Kentucky. It’s worth noting that Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposed elimination of Kansas’s income tax would not only propel the Jayhawks past the first round, but all the way to an Elite 8 matchup with Florida.
• Indiana, the top seed in the East, falls in the second round to Temple, thanks to Pennsylvania’s 3.07 percent income tax rate compared to Indiana’s 3.4 percent rate. It is worth noting, however, that Indiana Gov. Mike Pence would win this matchup for the Hoosiers if his legislature would pass his proposed income tax cut, which would bring Indiana’s flat rate to 3.06 percent and beat the Owls at the buzzer. If this were to somehow end up a tie, though, Indiana would still beat Temple on the strength of the state’s Right to Work law, passed in 2012 while Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett twiddled his thumbs.
President Obama also released his brackets earlier this week, and proved he hasn’t been able to step away from the campaign trail as swing state schools from Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, and Wisconsin made it into his Elite 8.
But Republicans were also critical of the President’s ability to deliver his brackets on time every year while failing to produce a budget on time as mandated by the Constitution.
While the President can turn in his NCAA bracket on time each year, this is his fourth budget out five that is late since he took office.
— Kevin McCarthy (@GOPWhip) March 20, 2013
Rep. Pete Sessions tweeted out a video Tuesday produced by the House GOP Conference and dinged the President for taking his brackets more seriously than the national budget.
March Madness? When the President takes his brackets more seriously than the national budget. VIDEO: j.mp/Zr3pXG
— Pete Sessions (@PeteSessions) March 19, 2013
The President is expected to release his budget for fiscal year 2014 on April 8, more than two months late.
What else is going on?
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2. Sessions Leads Budget Fight for Conservatives
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On a side note, Norquist has also launched TaxesWithoutBorders.com, an initiative to tell Congress to say “no” to internet sales tax. Even Grumpy Cat weighed in against internet sales tax earlier this week.
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