Sen. Coburn, ATR's Norquist Spar Over Ethanol

Two conservatives are in a spat over taxes. Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., started the fracas by going after Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, on Tuesday for backing tax breaks that benefit special interest groups, Politico reports.

Tom Coburn

In a letter to Norquist, Coburn said a tax benefit for ethanol producers ended up increasing tax payments for the population as a whole and should thus be dumped.

Americans for Tax Reform fired back with a letter to Coburn accusing him of misinterpreting its views of the ethanol tax credit, which it said it opposed.

The group said it fought Coburn’s amendment to discard the benefit because it didn’t offset the end of the tax break with a corresponding tax cut.