Marco Rubio signs Norquist tax pledge

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) has promised to oppose all tax increases, as he jockeys for the White House, the third presidential candidate to sign the popular conservative group Americans for Tax Reform’s pledge.

{mosads}“Senator Rubio is a longtime leader in the taxpayer movement. He signed and kept the Pledge as a Florida state House representative and as a United States Senator. By signing the Taxpayer Protection Pledge to the American people, Senator Rubio continues to protect American taxpayers against higher taxes,” Grover Norquist, president of Americans for Tax Reform, said in a statement.

“Senator Rubio understands that government should be reformed so that it takes and spends less of the taxpayers’ money, and will oppose tax increases that paper over and continue the failures of the past.”

Rubio joins fellow Republican Sens. Rand Paul (Ky.) and Ted Cruz (Texas), who signed the pledge last week.

Former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush has said he wouldn’t sign any pledge if he decides to run for president, his spokeswoman Kristy Campbell told CNN.

The group’s pledge calls for politicians to “oppose and veto any and all efforts to increase taxes.” It has become a popular way for conservative politicians to tout their limited government bonafides — 49 Senators and 218 members of the House of Representatives have signed the pledge.

Rubio has been promoting his joint tax plan with Sen. Mike Lee (Utah), which replaces the individual tax rates with just two brackets, one at 15 percent and one at 35 percent.