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American Council for Capital Formation

October 19, 2023

The American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) is an American think tank founded in 1975 by Charls Walker.[2] It is located on the District of Columbia's Connecticut Avenue.[3] Mark Bloomfeld serves as its president and Pinar Cebi Wilber [4] serves as its executive vice president and chief economist.

American Council for Capital Formation
Formation1975; 48 years ago (1975)
FounderCharls Walker
Founded atWashington, DC
52-0991278[1]
Purposecapital gains tax reduction
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
President
Mark A. Bloomfield
Executive Vice President and Chief Economist
Pinar Cebi Wilber
Websitehttp://accf.org/

The group lobbied for the Revenue Act of 1978, which cut capital gains taxes. The council supports ending the ban on crude oil exports and a flexible approach to the regulation of greenhouse gases. The council describes itself as nonpartisan,[5] while journalists generally describe its positions as "free market"[6][7] or "pro-business."[8][9]

History Edit

The council was founded in 1975 as the American Council on Capital Gains and Estate Taxation. Charls Walker founded the council and acted as its first chairman. Seed money for the Council was provided by the Weyerhaeuser Company, a logging concern, and the National Forest Products Association; timber firms were at that time particularly affected by the capital gains tax.[10]

Issues Edit

Revenue Act of 1978 Edit

In 1978, Democratic President Jimmy Carter announced his intention to pass tax reform legislation. That year, the ACCF set up a meeting between William A. Steiger, a Wisconsin congressman, and Ed Zschau, an electronics entrepreneur from California. Persuaded by Zschau's case that the doubling of capital gains taxes between 1969 and 1976 had badly hurt his industry, Steiger put legislation in motion to reset the tax to 1968 levels. The ACCF spoke in support Steiger's measure.[11]

Carter opposed the measure, but by mid-1978 realized that he lacked the political support to defeat it, given widespread popular anger at high taxes and broad support by both parties.[12] The tax cut bill (the Revenue Act of 1978) passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 362-49[13] and was signed into law by President Carter.[12]

Analyzing the Revenue Act in his 2008 book The Rise of the Counter-establishment, Democratic activist Sidney Blumenthal was sharply critical of the act, arguing that the bill created no actual growth. Walker argued at the time that the bill had spared the economy from a sharper downturn, and reflected a new bipartisan consensus in favor of capital formation: "'You put the question this way: Do you think that American business is putting enough money into new machinery? And they say no. There it is.'"[14]

Crude oil exports Edit

The council supported ending the ban on export of crude oil from the United States. Margo Thorning of the ACCF said in response to the refusal of President Barack Obama's administration to lift the ban: "The world has changed tremendously since the ban on crude oil exports was put in place over 40 years ago. That is nowhere more evident than in the transformation of our nation's energy landscape from one of scarcity to one of abundance."[15] The Council hosted two policy briefings on Capitol Hill against the crude oil export ban in 2015 - one in May with Senator John Hoeven and the other in November with Senator Cory Gardner.[16]

Climate change Edit

The council's position on climate change is that "because energy use and economic growth go hand in hand, policymakers should develop a flexible, long-term approach to reducing the growth of greenhouse gases. This requires a global effort based on technological innovation and technology transfer to developing countries where greenhouse gas emissions growth is most rapid."[17]

While the ACCF is skeptical of climate policies and regulations that impose significant costs on the U.S. economy, the Council does not reject climate-related science. ACCF economist Margo Thorning supported the Energy Tax Prevention Act in 2011 and 2012. This bill would have reversed a Supreme Court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency has authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. In Congressional testimony, Thorning stated that the regulation of greenhouse gases "makes little economic or environmental sense."[18] In 2015, the ACCF joined with an alliance of oil lobbyists and environmental groups to oppose the federal ethanol mandate.[7] In 2017, ACCF’s Vice President of Policy and General Counsel, Timothy M. Doyle released a paper criticizing New York City's decision to divest $5 billion of its pension fund from fossil fuels.[19]

The council also disagrees with policies that would restrict the export of fossil energy. In 2015, Banks wrote, "Some people, particularly environmentalists, will claim that the United States should not export fossil energy because of climate mitigation concerns. While climate change is a problem that the world needs to address, cutting off U.S. exports of fossil fuels is not the answer. In fact, pursuing such an action only reduces the amount of affordable and reliable energy available to global markets for economic development and poverty eradication efforts, increasing the scarcity of energy resources and worsening related competition between nation states."[20]

Proxy Advisers Edit

In 2018, Timothy M. Doyle, Vice President of Policy and General Counsel of the ACCF, released a report criticizing the growing role of proxy advisers in finance and supporting bipartisan legislation requiring them to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and disclose conflicts of interest.[21]

Leadership Edit

Charls Walker was the council's first chairman. He served the administration of President Richard M. Nixon as undersecretary of the treasury from 1969 to 1972 and as deputy secretary of the same department in 1973 under John Connally.[22] Walker started consulting after leaving the Nixon administration.[23]

Mark A. Bloomfield is the president and CEO of the council.[24][25] After working on Ronald Reagan's first presidential campaign, Bloomfield became involved with ACCF after meeting Charls Walker while working as an aide on the House Ways and Means Committee.[25] Walker and Bloomfield later co-authored the book Intellectual Property Rights and Capital Formation in the Next Decade (University Press of America, 1988).[26] Bloomfield is known for the monthly dinners he holds for members of Congress, business leaders, and journalists. Senator Joseph Lieberman called them "Washington's last salon", and Senator John E. Sununu stated that they gave politicians from opposing parties a chance to meet and have "substantive discussions".[25]

Pinar Çebi Wilber is Executive Vice President and Chief Economist with the American Council for Capital Formation.[27] She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Economics at Georgetown University.[28] Before joining the organization, Wilber was a visiting Assistant Professor at Washington and Lee University. She has a Ph.D. in economics from Georgetown University and a BA from Bilkent University, Turkey.[29] Wilber has conducted research in the areas of energy policy, tax policy, international trade and finance, and general government policy, especially as it relates to the effect of government policies on retirement saving and the use of annuities in retirement.[30]

Board of Advisors Edit

In 2021, ACCF announced that former Congressman Bill Flores (R-TX)[31] and former Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR)[32] would join its board of directors.

Former Staff Edit

George "David" Banks served as executive vice president at the ACCF.[33] Before his position at ACCF, Banks was a senior adviser to President George W. Bush on international climate change[34] and then a deputy director of the nuclear energy program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.[35] In 2017, he served as Special Assistant for International Energy and Environment at the National Economic and National Security Councils in the administration of President Donald Trump.[36]

At ACCF, Banks has been a strong advocate for energy free trade and constructive U.S. engagement with China. "China-bashing in the context of U.S. energy policymaking will only cause Beijing to become more stubborn in the South China Sea and more aggressive in locking up energy supplies around the globe,” he wrote in November 2015.[37] He has also been critical of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), writing in The Washington Times in February 2016 that "The RFS has plagued the country for years by jacking up food and fuel costs. What’s more, it’s outdated and offers zero environmental benefits. Congress should nix this standard before it wreaks more havoc on the country."[38]

In 2018, Banks spoke in support of the Paris climate agreement, calling it "a good Republican agreement".[36]

References Edit

  1. ^ "American Council for Capital Formation". Propublica. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
  2. ^ "Company Profile". Bloomberg. Retrieved 20 April 2016.
  3. ^ "Contact." ACCF website.
  4. ^ Wilber, Pinar Cebi. "Tax changes mean brighter future for retirement savings". The Hill. Retrieved 13 January 2023.
  5. ^ Bloomfeld, Mark. "When a tax cut isn't a tax cut." The Hill. September 13, 2011.
  6. ^ Eilperin, Juliet. "U.S. Joins Informal Talks on Warming". The Washington Post. December 20, 2005.
  7. ^ a b Henry, Devin. "Anti-ethanol group expands national ad buy." The Hill. November 10, 2015.
  8. ^ DeMarban, Alex. "Think tank: State needs to support Alaska LNG, drop stand-alone pipeline". Alaska Dispatch News. August 12, 2015.
  9. ^ Cowan, Edward. "The Quiet Campaign to Cut Capital Gains Taxes--To Zero." The New York Times. April 12, 1981.
  10. ^ Berman, Elizabeth Popp. Creating the Market University. Princeton, 2012. p. 198.
  11. ^ Vogel, David. Fluctuating Fortunes: The Political Power of Business in America. Beard Books, 2003. p. 175.
  12. ^ a b Kuttner, Robert. The Economic Illusion: False Choices Between Prosperity and Social Justice. University of Pennsylvania Press, 1987. pp. 52-53.
  13. ^ Francis, Samuel. "Update on the Revenue Act of 1978". The Heritage Foundation. August 22, 1978.
  14. ^ Blumenthal, Sidney (2008). The Rise of the Counter-establishment: The Conservative Ascent to Political Power. Union Square Press. p. 73. ISBN 9781402759116.
  15. ^ Snow, Nick. "White House not inclined to end crude oil export ban, official says" Oil & Gas Journal. September 17, 2015.
  16. ^ "ACCF Hosts Congressional Briefing on Crude Oil Exports and Trade Policy". ACCF. May 20, 2015.
  17. ^ ACCF homepage
  18. ^ Baer, Hans; Singer, Merrill (24 April 2014). The Anthropology of Climate Change: An Integrated Critical Perspective. United States: Routledge. ISBN 978-1317817673.
  19. ^ Muoio, Danielle. "Divesting from Big Oil a tough sell — even in the bluest cities and states." Politico. March 7, 2018. Accessed May 11, 2018.
  20. ^ Starling, Rosalie."ACCF highlights impact of energy trade policies on national security". Hydrocarbon Engineering. July 16, 2015.
  21. ^ Critchley, Barry. "U.S. proxy report proves timely." Financial Post. May 2, 2018. Accessed May 11, 2018.
  22. ^ Bart Barnes (29 June 2015). "Charls E. Walker, tax lobbyist for GOP and big business, dies at 91". Washington Post. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  23. ^ "Charls Walker, Treasury Official and Business Lobbyist, Is Dead at 91". The New York Times. 3 July 2015. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  24. ^ "Mark A. Bloomfield." ACCF.
  25. ^ a b c Kaplan, Jonathan E. "The ambassador: Mark Bloomfield." The Hill. July 26, 2005.
  26. ^ Intellectual Property Rights and Capital Formation in the Next Decade. 1988. ISBN 978-0819168849.
  27. ^ Wilber, Pinar Cebi. "The world is looking to Biden to restore trust in global trade and investment". Fortune. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  28. ^ "Pinar Cebi Wilber". Georgetown University. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  29. ^ "Dr. Pinar Çebi Wilber". Townhall. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  30. ^ "Avoid Conflating Renewables and Fossil Fuels in the Subsidies Debate". Capitol Corner. Retrieved 19 January 2023.
  31. ^ "ACCF Press Release on Bill Flores". American Council for Capital Formation (AACF). April 2021.
  32. ^ "Former Senator Mark Pryor (D-AR) Joins ACCF Board of Advisors". American Council for Capital Formation (AACF). January 15, 2021. Retrieved 2021-09-08.
  33. ^ "George 'David' Banks." ACCF.
  34. ^ Burita, Mike. "ACCF welcomes George “David” Banks as Executive Vice President". ACCF. January 29, 2015.
  35. ^ "Former White House Advisor on Environmental Quality George "David" Banks Joins CSIS". Center for Strategic & International Studies. April 15, 2013.
  36. ^ a b Friedman, Lisa. "Former Trump Aide Calls Paris Climate Accord ‘a Good Republican Agreement’". The New York Times. February 22, 2018. Accessed May 11, 2018.
  37. ^ Dlouhy, Jennifer A. China keeping an eye on surging U.S. oil and gas production. The Houston Chronicle. November 5, 2015.
  38. ^ Banks, George David. "Renewable Fuel Standard deceit". The Washington Times. February 8, 2016.

External links Edit

  • Official website

October 19, 2023
american, council, capital, formation, accf, american, think, tank, founded, 1975, charls, walker, located, district, columbia, connecticut, avenue, mark, bloomfeld, serves, president, pinar, cebi, wilber, serves, executive, vice, president, chief, economist, . The American Council for Capital Formation ACCF is an American think tank founded in 1975 by Charls Walker 2 It is located on the District of Columbia s Connecticut Avenue 3 Mark Bloomfeld serves as its president and Pinar Cebi Wilber 4 serves as its executive vice president and chief economist American Council for Capital FormationFormation1975 48 years ago 1975 FounderCharls WalkerFounded atWashington DCTax ID no 52 0991278 1 Purposecapital gains tax reductionHeadquartersWashington D C PresidentMark A BloomfieldExecutive Vice President and Chief EconomistPinar Cebi WilberWebsitehttp accf org The group lobbied for the Revenue Act of 1978 which cut capital gains taxes The council supports ending the ban on crude oil exports and a flexible approach to the regulation of greenhouse gases The council describes itself as nonpartisan 5 while journalists generally describe its positions as free market 6 7 or pro business 8 9 Contents 1 History 2 Issues 2 1 Revenue Act of 1978 2 2 Crude oil exports 2 3 Climate change 2 4 Proxy Advisers 3 Leadership 3 1 Board of Advisors 3 2 Former Staff 4 References 5 External linksHistory EditThe council was founded in 1975 as the American Council on Capital Gains and Estate Taxation Charls Walker founded the council and acted as its first chairman Seed money for the Council was provided by the Weyerhaeuser Company a logging concern and the National Forest Products Association timber firms were at that time particularly affected by the capital gains tax 10 Issues EditRevenue Act of 1978 Edit In 1978 Democratic President Jimmy Carter announced his intention to pass tax reform legislation That year the ACCF set up a meeting between William A Steiger a Wisconsin congressman and Ed Zschau an electronics entrepreneur from California Persuaded by Zschau s case that the doubling of capital gains taxes between 1969 and 1976 had badly hurt his industry Steiger put legislation in motion to reset the tax to 1968 levels The ACCF spoke in support Steiger s measure 11 Carter opposed the measure but by mid 1978 realized that he lacked the political support to defeat it given widespread popular anger at high taxes and broad support by both parties 12 The tax cut bill the Revenue Act of 1978 passed the House of Representatives by a vote of 362 49 13 and was signed into law by President Carter 12 Analyzing the Revenue Act in his 2008 book The Rise of the Counter establishment Democratic activist Sidney Blumenthal was sharply critical of the act arguing that the bill created no actual growth Walker argued at the time that the bill had spared the economy from a sharper downturn and reflected a new bipartisan consensus in favor of capital formation You put the question this way Do you think that American business is putting enough money into new machinery And they say no There it is 14 Crude oil exports Edit The council supported ending the ban on export of crude oil from the United States Margo Thorning of the ACCF said in response to the refusal of President Barack Obama s administration to lift the ban The world has changed tremendously since the ban on crude oil exports was put in place over 40 years ago That is nowhere more evident than in the transformation of our nation s energy landscape from one of scarcity to one of abundance 15 The Council hosted two policy briefings on Capitol Hill against the crude oil export ban in 2015 one in May with Senator John Hoeven and the other in November with Senator Cory Gardner 16 Climate change Edit The council s position on climate change is that because energy use and economic growth go hand in hand policymakers should develop a flexible long term approach to reducing the growth of greenhouse gases This requires a global effort based on technological innovation and technology transfer to developing countries where greenhouse gas emissions growth is most rapid 17 While the ACCF is skeptical of climate policies and regulations that impose significant costs on the U S economy the Council does not reject climate related science ACCF economist Margo Thorning supported the Energy Tax Prevention Act in 2011 and 2012 This bill would have reversed a Supreme Court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency has authority to regulate greenhouse gas emissions In Congressional testimony Thorning stated that the regulation of greenhouse gases makes little economic or environmental sense 18 In 2015 the ACCF joined with an alliance of oil lobbyists and environmental groups to oppose the federal ethanol mandate 7 In 2017 ACCF s Vice President of Policy and General Counsel Timothy M Doyle released a paper criticizing New York City s decision to divest 5 billion of its pension fund from fossil fuels 19 The council also disagrees with policies that would restrict the export of fossil energy In 2015 Banks wrote Some people particularly environmentalists will claim that the United States should not export fossil energy because of climate mitigation concerns While climate change is a problem that the world needs to address cutting off U S exports of fossil fuels is not the answer In fact pursuing such an action only reduces the amount of affordable and reliable energy available to global markets for economic development and poverty eradication efforts increasing the scarcity of energy resources and worsening related competition between nation states 20 Proxy Advisers Edit In 2018 Timothy M Doyle Vice President of Policy and General Counsel of the ACCF released a report criticizing the growing role of proxy advisers in finance and supporting bipartisan legislation requiring them to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission and disclose conflicts of interest 21 Leadership EditCharls Walker was the council s first chairman He served the administration of President Richard M Nixon as undersecretary of the treasury from 1969 to 1972 and as deputy secretary of the same department in 1973 under John Connally 22 Walker started consulting after leaving the Nixon administration 23 Mark A Bloomfield is the president and CEO of the council 24 25 After working on Ronald Reagan s first presidential campaign Bloomfield became involved with ACCF after meeting Charls Walker while working as an aide on the House Ways and Means Committee 25 Walker and Bloomfield later co authored the book Intellectual Property Rights and Capital Formation in the Next Decade University Press of America 1988 26 Bloomfield is known for the monthly dinners he holds for members of Congress business leaders and journalists Senator Joseph Lieberman called them Washington s last salon and Senator John E Sununu stated that they gave politicians from opposing parties a chance to meet and have substantive discussions 25 Pinar Cebi Wilber is Executive Vice President and Chief Economist with the American Council for Capital Formation 27 She is also an adjunct professor in the Department of Economics at Georgetown University 28 Before joining the organization Wilber was a visiting Assistant Professor at Washington and Lee University She has a Ph D in economics from Georgetown University and a BA from Bilkent University Turkey 29 Wilber has conducted research in the areas of energy policy tax policy international trade and finance and general government policy especially as it relates to the effect of government policies on retirement saving and the use of annuities in retirement 30 Board of Advisors Edit In 2021 ACCF announced that former Congressman Bill Flores R TX 31 and former Senator Mark Pryor D AR 32 would join its board of directors Former Staff Edit George David Banks served as executive vice president at the ACCF 33 Before his position at ACCF Banks was a senior adviser to President George W Bush on international climate change 34 and then a deputy director of the nuclear energy program at the Center for Strategic amp International Studies 35 In 2017 he served as Special Assistant for International Energy and Environment at the National Economic and National Security Councils in the administration of President Donald Trump 36 At ACCF Banks has been a strong advocate for energy free trade and constructive U S engagement with China China bashing in the context of U S energy policymaking will only cause Beijing to become more stubborn in the South China Sea and more aggressive in locking up energy supplies around the globe he wrote in November 2015 37 He has also been critical of the Renewable Fuel Standard RFS writing in The Washington Times in February 2016 that The RFS has plagued the country for years by jacking up food and fuel costs What s more it s outdated and offers zero environmental benefits Congress should nix this standard before it wreaks more havoc on the country 38 In 2018 Banks spoke in support of the Paris climate agreement calling it a good Republican agreement 36 References Edit American Council for Capital Formation Propublica Retrieved 21 April 2016 Company Profile Bloomberg Retrieved 20 April 2016 Contact ACCF website Wilber Pinar Cebi Tax changes mean brighter future for retirement savings The Hill Retrieved 13 January 2023 Bloomfeld Mark When a tax cut isn t a tax cut The Hill September 13 2011 Eilperin Juliet U S Joins Informal Talks on Warming The Washington Post December 20 2005 a b Henry Devin Anti ethanol group expands national ad buy The Hill November 10 2015 DeMarban Alex Think tank State needs to support Alaska LNG drop stand alone pipeline Alaska Dispatch News August 12 2015 Cowan Edward The Quiet Campaign to Cut Capital Gains Taxes To Zero The New York Times April 12 1981 Berman Elizabeth Popp Creating the Market University Princeton 2012 p 198 Vogel David Fluctuating Fortunes The Political Power of Business in America Beard Books 2003 p 175 a b Kuttner Robert The Economic Illusion False Choices Between Prosperity and Social Justice University of Pennsylvania Press 1987 pp 52 53 Francis Samuel Update on the Revenue Act of 1978 The Heritage Foundation August 22 1978 Blumenthal Sidney 2008 The Rise of the Counter establishment The Conservative Ascent to Political Power Union Square Press p 73 ISBN 9781402759116 Snow Nick White House not inclined to end crude oil export ban official says Oil amp Gas Journal September 17 2015 ACCF Hosts Congressional Briefing on Crude Oil Exports and Trade Policy ACCF May 20 2015 ACCF homepage Baer Hans Singer Merrill 24 April 2014 The Anthropology of Climate Change An Integrated Critical Perspective United States Routledge ISBN 978 1317817673 Muoio Danielle Divesting from Big Oil a tough sell even in the bluest cities and states Politico March 7 2018 Accessed May 11 2018 Starling Rosalie ACCF highlights impact of energy trade policies on national security Hydrocarbon Engineering July 16 2015 Critchley Barry U S proxy report proves timely Financial Post May 2 2018 Accessed May 11 2018 Bart Barnes 29 June 2015 Charls E Walker tax lobbyist for GOP and big business dies at 91 Washington Post Retrieved March 17 2016 Charls Walker Treasury Official and Business Lobbyist Is Dead at 91 The New York Times 3 July 2015 Retrieved March 17 2016 Mark A Bloomfield ACCF a b c Kaplan Jonathan E The ambassador Mark Bloomfield The Hill July 26 2005 Intellectual Property Rights and Capital Formation in the Next Decade 1988 ISBN 978 0819168849 Wilber Pinar Cebi The world is looking to Biden to restore trust in global trade and investment Fortune Retrieved 19 January 2023 Pinar Cebi Wilber Georgetown University Retrieved 19 January 2023 Dr Pinar Cebi Wilber Townhall Retrieved 19 January 2023 Avoid Conflating Renewables and Fossil Fuels in the Subsidies Debate Capitol Corner Retrieved 19 January 2023 ACCF Press Release on Bill Flores American Council for Capital Formation AACF April 2021 Former Senator Mark Pryor D AR Joins ACCF Board of Advisors American Council for Capital Formation AACF January 15 2021 Retrieved 2021 09 08 George David Banks ACCF Burita Mike ACCF welcomes George David Banks as Executive Vice President ACCF January 29 2015 Former White House Advisor on Environmental Quality George David Banks Joins CSIS Center for Strategic amp International Studies April 15 2013 a b Friedman Lisa Former Trump Aide Calls Paris Climate Accord a Good Republican Agreement The New York Times February 22 2018 Accessed May 11 2018 Dlouhy Jennifer A China keeping an eye on surging U S oil and gas production The Houston Chronicle November 5 2015 Banks George David Renewable Fuel Standard deceit The Washington Times February 8 2016 External links EditOfficial website Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title American Council for Capital Formation amp oldid 1177307727, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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