Americans for Prosperity will spend $500,000 on a campaign to promote a new state tax code, the organization announced Tuesday.
AFP, a political advocacy group founded by the Koch brothers, has been prominent in issues advertising on the state and national levels. In North Carolina, it ran an ad campaign supporting the legislative Republicans' budget.
Legislators have not presented a specific tax proposal, but they've discussed taxing more services such as hair cuts and lawyers' fees, while eliminating or reducing corporate and personal income taxes.
About a dozen people at the news conference sported green football jerseys with the campaign slogan "back in the game," meaning that the state is competing effectively for jobs.
AFP has spent about $500,000 in Indiana on a campaign supporting tax code restructuring, said AFP national president Tim Phillips, who was in Raleigh on Tuesday.
"One of our goals is to let legislators know they will have someone who will have their back if they just do the right thing," Phillips said.
The ads will run in specific districts and identify legislators by name. In a later phase of the campaign, AFP will run ads in national and international publications promoting the state, said Dallas Woodhouse, AFP state director.
Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who spoke at the news conference, said he had not talked in detail with AFP about more extensive participation in its campaign, but said he would be willing to participate in its community meetings and appear in ads.