Coalition Dedicated to Eliminating Texas’ Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund
Challenge:
Texas' outdated Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund (TIF) was costing Texans hundreds of millions of dollars each year. Nearly 17 million Texas wireless customers continued to shoulder the burden of the outdated and unfair tax. Texans were paying the third-highest telecommunications taxes in the nation for a program that had accomplished its purpose and was no longer necessary.
Noble Strategic was hired to develop and implement a public affairs campaign to increase awareness among Texas lawmakers of the benefits of and support for the elimination of the tax.
Strategy:
Noble Strategic assembled a broad-based statewide coalition of business organizations, policy groups and chambers of commerce in support of the elimination of the TIF. We then activated these supporters in an effort to educate lawmakers, media and the public on the far-reaching effects of this unnecessary and outdated tax and the benefits of repealing it.
Our firm recruited multiple organizations and influential third-party allies from across the state and engaged them in the coalition's media efforts and in contacting state lawmakers to voice their support for the repeal of the tax.
Result:
Through ongoing correspondence between coalition members and lawmakers, media attention and grassroots pressure, our team successfully led the effort that resulted in the repeal of one of the largest taxes in the state’s history which saved taxpayers an unprecedented $600 million.
Noble Strategic’s efforts resulted in significant media coverage that increased awareness of the issue and successfully framed the debate on the coalition’s terms through several opinion-editorials, letters-to-the-editor, advertisements and editorial support from media outlets across the state. In addition, our efforts resulted in a steady stream of contacts to state lawmakers by influential third-party groups and individuals across the state to demonstrate broad-based support for the repeal of the tax.