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The American Council for Capital Formation (ACCF) is an American think tank and lobbying group founded in 1975 by Charls Walker. It is located on the District of Columbia's Connecticut Avenue. Mark Bloomfeld and George "David" Banks serve as its current president and vice president, respectively. Journalists have variously described its positions as "free-market," "conservative," or "pro-business."

History

The Council was founded in 1975 as the American Council on Capital Gains and Estate Taxation. Charls Walker founded the Council and installed himself as its first chairman. Seed money for the Council was provided by the Weyerhaeuser Company, a logging concern, and the National Forest Products Association. More than 340 firms and trade associations had contributed to the Council by 1984. Conservative foundations also issued significant grants. This funding allowed the Council to hire capable policy analysts, produce numerous white papers, organize conferences, and otherwise advance its proposals.

Revenue Act of 1978

in 1978, Walker's group pushed a bill through Congress that greatly cut capital gains taxes. The Council claimed this would boost financial markets. During this time the Council's board included Democratic "superlawyers" such as Clark Clifford and Edward Bennet Williams and supply-sider Arthur Laffer. Robert Keith Gray, a powerful Republican lobbyist, served as president. The Council lobbied intensely for the Act. It released numerous economic studies showing the benefits of the bill. Although the 1978 capital gains tax cut bill (the Revenue Act of 1978) passed, the predicted economic benefits were never realized. Walker argued that other economic factors were in play; in November 1979 he told the Council's annual meeting that the tax cut had saved the economy from yet worse troubles.

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 started working to reset the tax to 1968 levels.

In his book Revolt of the Haves, Robert Kuttner wrote: "Many of these studies later were shown to be based on unverifiable assumptions about how the market was likely to respond to a cut in the capital gains rates; yet they were presented as scientific fact, and by the time the liberal economists reassembled their forces and challenged the methodology in the various tax journals, the political battle was over and Charlie Walker's capital formation council had moved on to other issues."

Issues

Crude oil exports

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 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." 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. Each briefing included about 40 experts and legislative aides.

Climate change

The Council has been active in the climate policy space for the past twenty years. Its stated position 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."

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. The ACCF, for example, pushed heavily for 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. Margo Thorning, an ACCF economist, testified in favor of the act. She stated that the regulation of greenhouse gases "makes little economic or environmental sense." In 2015, the ACCF joined with an alliance of oil lobbyists and environmental groups to oppose the federal ethanol mandate.

ACCF has opposed efforts to ban public financing of coal plants in developing countries. In a paper published in 2015 on OECD coal plant financing policy, George David Banks, the Council's executive vice president, wrote, "If needed to produce a carbon neutral transaction, the United States should consider attaching domestic or foreign offset requirements, including land use and forests, to a new coal plant."

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."

Leadership

Charls Walker

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. Walker was born in Texas and educated at the University of Texas at Austin, where he received an undergraduate degree and an MBA. He took a PhD from the University of Pennsylvania. Walker was a professor, Federal Reserve staffer, and banking executive for brief periods before becoming executive vice president of the American Bankers Association in 1961. He retained that position until 1969 when he left to work under Nixon.

Walker started consulting after leaving the Nixon administration. When he told Nixon that he was leaving government, the president said, "You’re going to be doing what you have been, but now making money at it." Walker described the large companies he represented as "a few mom-and-pop clients." Over the course of his career, these included General Motors, Gulf Oil, and major airlines. Walker established the ACCF in order to provide credibility to his advocacy for big business.

While defending the fully tax-deductible "three-martini lunch" in 1977 Walker said, "How could you set a ceiling that would apply both to a small town in Texas, where I recently bought a business lunch for two for $7, and to New York City, where you can pay anything?"

Walker advised John Connally during his brief 1980 presidential campaign. After Connally left the race, Walker joined the campaign of Ronald Reagan. Walker said of himself, "I think I provided the key memo." The memo he referred to offered a rationalization for cutting taxes and general government spending while increasing military spending. His other clients, such as the Business Roundtable, were relieved to know he was close to Reagan, whom they regarded as potentially dangerous. Walker and the ACCF won large cuts in corporate taxes in Reagan's 1981 economics legislation.

His ACCF colleague, Mark Bloomfield, said of Walker, "Charly was the classic caricature of the cigar-smoking super-lobbyist with a limo." Lyndon B. Johnson called Walker "an S.O.B. with elbows." Walker replied, "Where I come from, that’s a term of endearment."

Mark Bloomfield

Mark A. Bloomfied is the president and CEO of the Council.

Bloomfield is deeply connected to senior Republicans. He worked at the 1972 Republican convention with Karl Rove. Bloomfield received this position due to the influence of George H. W. Bush, who approved of his role in founding the Ripon Society, a Republican think tank. Speaking at an ACCF event, Rove retold how he had maneuvered to pick up George W. Bush at Union Station. Rove said, “Just think about the consequences if Mark had picked up George W. Bush instead of me.” Bloomfield worked on 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.

Bloomfield is known for the monthly dinners he holds for members of Congress, business leaders, and journalists. He has been holding these dinners for almost thirty years. Senator Joseph Lieberman called them "Washington's last salon."

Bloomfield authored the book Intellectual Property Rights and Capital Formation in the Next Decade with Charls Walker. It was published in 1988 by University Press of America.

George David Banks

George "David" Banks serves as executive vice president at the ACCF.

At ACCF, Banks has been 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. 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."

Before his position at ACCF, Banks was deputy director of the nuclear energy program at the Center for Strategic & International Studies. In a 2013 report on uranium enrichment policy, which was covered by The New York Times, Banks warned, "The U.S. Government is in dire need of implementing policies that support the domestic uranium enrichment industry as a strategic national asset - for defense and commercial purposes.

While serving as an aide to Senator James Inhofe in 2012, Banks wrote a critical e-mail to energy industry lobbyists that was obtained by the National Journal. Banks wrote: "Moving forward, we—your partners—would kindly ask for better coordination and communication from you to prevent the Obama administration from pulling similar stunts in the future." Banks was referring to a proposal by the Obama administration to create an interagency working group that would explore federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing. During the administration of George W. Bush, Banks was senior adviser on international climate change.

For his work on "climate diplomacy," he received an EPA climate protection award from the Obama administration in 2009. John Coequyt, the Sierra Club's senior climate and energy representative, paid kudos in 2009 to Banks for his climate work, "He was straightforward about what the administration was doing and kept the environmental community in the loop and helped us focus on the areas where we could make progress under the Bush administration."

Funding

The Council is funded by contributions from foundations, corporations, trade associations, and individuals. The ACCF relies in part on donations from large oil companies like ExxonMobil and ConocoPhillips. Since 1998, the Council has received at least $1.6 million from ExxonMobil alone.

The ACCF receives substantial support from Koch Industries. Greenpeace states that the ACCF received $365,000 in donations from various Koch-controlled foundations from 2005 to 2011.

References

1. "Contact." ACCF website.
2. Eilperin, Juliet. "U.S. Joins Informal Talks on Warming". The Washington Post. December 20, 2005.
3. ^ Henry, Devin. "Anti-ethanol group expands national ad buy." The Hill. November 10, 2015.
4. Guillen, Alex. "Colorado spill hijacks EPA agenda — Formerly nuclear Japan turns to coal — Canadian election could change energy relationship." Politico. April 12, 2015.
5. ^ DeMarban, Alex. "Think tank: State needs to support Alaska LNG, drop stand-alone pipeline". Alaska Dispatch News. August 12, 2015.
6. Cowan, Edward. "The Quiet Campaign to Cut Capital Gains Taxes--To Zero." The New York Times. April 12, 1981.
7. ^ Blumenthal, Sidney (2008). The Rise of the Counter-establishment: The Conservative Ascent to Political Power. Union Square Press.
8. Vogel, David. Fluctuating Fortunes: The Political Power of Business in America. Beard Books, 2003. p. 175.
9. Snow, Nick. "White House not inclined to end crude oil export ban, official says" Oil & Gas Journal. September 17, 2015.
10. "ACCF Hosts Congressional Briefing on Crude Oil Exports and Trade Policy". ACCF. May 20, 2015.
11. McCoy, Shawn. Gardner: Lifting Ban on Oil Exports This Year Would Ease Tensions. Inside Sources. November 28, 2015.
12. ACCF homepage
13. ^ Baer, Hans; Singer, Merrill (24 April 2014). The Anthropology of Climate Change: An Integrated Critical Perspective. United States: Routledge. ISBN 1317817672.
14. Banks, George David. "Special Report: U.S. Coal Plant Financing Policy – A Threat To Long-Term U.S. Interests In The Developing World". ACCF February 25, 2015.
15. Starling, Rosalie."ACCF highlights impact of energy trade policies on national security". Hydrocarbon Engineering. July 16, 2015.
16. Bart Barnes (29 June 2015). "Charls E. Walker, tax lobbyist for GOP and big business, dies at 91". Washington Post. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
17. ^ "Charls Walker, Treasury Official and Business Lobbyist, Is Dead at 91". The New York Times. 3 July 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
18. "Mark A. Bloomfield." ACCF.
19. ^ Kaplan, Jonathan E. "The ambassador: Mark Bloomfield." The Hill. July 26, 2005.
20. ISBN 978-0819168849
21. "George 'David' Banks." ACCF.
22. Dlouhy, Jennifer A. China keeping an eye on surging U.S. oil and gas production. The Houston Chronicle. November 5, 2015.
23. Banks, George David. "Renewable Fuel Standard deceit". The Washington Times. February 8, 2016.
24. "Former White House Advisor on Environmental Quality George "David" Banks Joins CSIS". Center for Strategic & International Studies. April 15, 2013.
25. Wald, Matthew L. "Ebb in Uranium Enrichment in U.S. Raises Questions About Nuclear Policy". The New York Times. December 5, 2013.
26. Banks, George David, and Michael Wallace. Recapturing US Leadership in Uranium Enrichment. Center for Strategic & International Studies. November 2013.
27. Stromberg, Stephen. "Republicans Upset at the Oil Industry?" The Washington Post. May 18, 2012.
28. Burita, Mike. "ACCF welcomes George “David” Banks as Executive Vice President". ACCF. January 29, 2015.
29. Viets, Alex. U.S. EPA Honors Banks for Climate Diplomacy Work. Institute for Governance & Sustainable Development.
30. Quinlan, Paul and Jean Chemnick. "Will Sen. Inhofe's New Energy Adviser Moderate the Raging Climate Skeptic?". The New York Times. June 9, 2011.
31. ^ "American Council on Capital Formation (ACCF)". Greenpeace USA. Retrieved 17 March 2016.
32. 2015 Annual Report. ACCF.
33. "Put a Tiger In Your Think Tank". Mother Jones. May 2005.

External links

• Official website

• Lobbying organizations based in Washington, D.C.
• 1975 establishments in Washington, D.C.