Tax Foundation

The Tax Foundation is the oldest non-profit tax think tank in the country, founded in 1937. Their stated mission is "to educate taxpayers about sound tax policy and the size of the tax burden borne by Americans at all levels of government." It also argues for a tax system characterized by "simplicity", "neutrality", "stability", "transparency" and "growth-promotion".

It was founded at the University Club in New York. Founding members included:


 * Alfred P. Sloan, General Motors Corporation, chairman
 * Donaldson Brown, General Motors Corporation financial vice president
 * William S. Farish, Standard Oil Company, President
 * Lewis H. Brown, President of the Johns-Manville Corporation

Its first chairman was Lewis H. Brown.

The Tax Foundation publishes studies on state on federal tax burdens, costs of tax compliance, and others like the impact of cigarette taxes on smuggling. The major public campaign of the Tax Foundation is its annual Tax Freedom Day, which calculates the total state and federal tax burden of the nation as a percentage of national income, and converts that into the portion of the year taxpayers must "work to pay taxes".

Ties to the American Legislative Exchange Council
The Tax Foundation's President, Scott A. Hodge, participated in the 2011 American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) Annual Meeting, speaking on the "Corporate Taxes and International Competitiveness Panel" in front of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Task Force, and the Foundation's Vice President of Legal and State Projects, Joe Henchman, introduced the "Resolution Urging Congress to Cut the Federal Corporate Tax Rate" model policy at the same meeting.

Funding
The Tax Foundation is funded by private donations from members, corporate donations, and donations from charitable foundation such as the Koch Foundation, Earhart Foundation, etc.

Board of Directors
On its website the Tax Foundation lists its board of directors, as of March 2009, as being:
 * Dr. Wayne Gable (Chairman), Koch Charitable Foundations
 * James W. Lintott (Treasurer), Sterling Foundation Management LLC
 * The Honorable Bill Archer, PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP
 * Dr. R. Glenn Hubbard, Columbia Business School
 * David P. Lewis, Eli Lilly and Company
 * Scott A. Hodge (Secretary, Ex-Officio), Tax Foundation

Staff

 * Scott A. Hodge, President
 * William Ahern, Director of Communications

Former personnel

 * Julie Burden, Director of Development

Contact Details
Tax Foundation 2001 L Street NW, Suite 1050 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: (202) 464-6200 Fax: (202) 464-6201 Website: http://www.taxfoundation.org

For more information

 * Scott A. Hodge, Celebrating Our 65th Year, Tax Features (Tax Foundation newsletter), September 2002