A New Kind of Taxpayer Advocacy

As a multitude of groups (see lead news story)–are making their voices heard in Washington, a smaller organization is just getting started in its advocacy efforts. The Institute of Mass Affluent Studies (imas.org) is meant to advocate for the mass affluent segment of American society, that segment of the population that the Institute argues in its “Premise” is the one that “provides economic leadership as a highly productive and essential component of the nation’s financial resiliency and health. As a distinct economic group, this segment leads society in entrepreneurship, job creation, wealth generation, tax revenues, and charitable gifting.” Yet unlike the poor and middle-class, and the wealthy, the Institute argues that this group has not received sufficient political consideration equal to its economic clout, nor has it been sufficiently studied. Moreover, the group argues that the mass affluent’s “financial strength and leadership role has been damaged by the economic crisis and will be more so in the future with proposed disproportionate tax policy at all levels.”

That’s what the Institute hopes to redress through its “Advocacy Through Fact” approach. The Institute’s president, Alec Farley, says the effort is “critical to preserve our economic engine,” and using a boating analogy, argues “it is the sail of the mass affluent that needs wind for the U.S. economy to begin to make headway.”