With spending and taxes roiling the Republican presidential field, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette weighs in today with its own devastating look at the tax burden under former Gov. Mike Huckabee's 10 years in office.
According to the paper, the average Arkansan's tax burden went from $1,969 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1997, to $2,902 for the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005, or a nearly 50 percent increase. Now that includes both state and local tax increases, but the record is still pretty stark — Huckabee oversaw a giant increase in the tax burden paid by the average resident.
Huckabee has consistently said he was a tax-cutter as well as a tax-raiser, claiming 90 different instances of tax cuts during his tenure. He also has become the most enthusiastic acolyte of the Fair Tax, a national sales tax proposal that has captured the support of many Republican voters in critical primary locations such as Iowa.
Given the Republican Party's ties to a message of lower spending and tax cuts, it's not surprising Huckabee feels he has to try to muddy the waters on his record at least a bit. But that leaves him in the middle of a distracting back-and-forth.
If anyone in the party can sell the big-government conservative message that President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress lived by over the past six years, it would be Huckabee. The question is whether he will try.
— Stephen Dinan, national political reporter, The Washington Times
Comments (6)
Well, if this isn't interesting, a Democrat paper calling Huckabee the tax king. If you read through the article, it appears it was the Democrats that were spending and it was the Supreme Court stepping out of bounds telling Arkansas that they had to spend more on education, thus raising taxes.
As to the Club For Growth, what did they expect be done with the situation that was handed to Gov. Huckabee. In light of the circumstances in Arkansas, and the hidden inflation that has impeded all of us in this Nation, it appears Huckabee kept Arkansas as solvent as possible with a democrat congress.
Posted by Robert George Dunn | October 9, 2007 3:35 PM
Not sure how you call that article devastating, Stephen. Besides the fact that all the liberal newspapers in Arkansas hated their Republican governor, I thought that one demonstrated Huckabee's clear understanding of fiscal responsibility. The truth is, Arkansas still has lower-than-average taxes and Huckabee urged that the $850 million tax surplus he left be returned to the people.
Posted by Joe | October 9, 2007 3:35 PM
Mr. Dinan:
In your article, you wrote regarding the tax increases on Huckabee's watch that "that includes both state and local tax increases, but the record is still pretty stark: Huckabee oversaw a giant increase in the tax burden paid by the average resident." Mr. Dinan, if you are going to write a piece that asserts that Huckabee is a gross tax raiser and an obfuscator, don't you think you should do your homework and actually discern between those "state and local tax increases"? What percentage of the tax increases did the local taxes account for? 10%? 70%? Huckabee was not responsible for those local taxes. Moreover, Mike Huckabee has signed the Americans for Tax Reform (ART) Presidential Taxpayer Protection Pledge, and he is trustworthy.
Posted by Brian Snow | October 9, 2007 4:02 PM
Wonderfully insightful comments! Personally, you lost me at "Arkansas Democrat-Gazette". What a hack piece, really. Do us a favor and hold your breath until the ADG posts a pro-Huck piece, even if it's just that he's a nice guy! (don't count on it). Standard leftist/socialist propaganda...you should have known better.
Posted by FairMark | October 9, 2007 10:39 PM
I'm not surprised that the Democrats forced Huckabee's hand in tax raising for education as the Clinton's left the educational system in that state purt near the bottom of the barrel in comparison to the other great 50...
Posted by Anonymous | October 12, 2007 5:46 PM
I'll be the first to say that Huckabee is an idiot, and he's not a conservative on economic issues. (The FairTaxers are looney too.) But with regards to the tax burden going up in his state, part of that was due to a judicial decision that forced an increase in education spending. Albeit, Huckabee has now said that even though he fought against that ruling (and lost), he said it had good consequences and that schools are better for it.
Posted by Anonymous | October 18, 2007 7:46 PM