The Truth on Taxes
posted by on 02/4/08
Many people have heard the whopping statistic from Huckabee opponents that there was a "47 percent increase in state tax burden" while Mike Huckabee was Governor of Arkansas. Few, however, get the rest of the story.
"During Huckabee’s years in office, total state tax burden — all 50 states combined — rose by twice as much: 98 percent, increasing from $743 billion in 1993 to $1.47 trillion in 2005."
But in Arkansas, Huckabee was standing as a fiscal convervative:
"In Arkansas, the income tax when he took office was 1 percent for the poorest taxpayers and 7 percent for the richest, exactly where it stood when he left the statehouse 11 years later. But, in the interim, he doubled the standard deduction and the child care credit, repealed capital gains taxes for home sales, lowered the capital gains rate, expanded the homestead exemption and set up tax-free savings accounts for medical care and college tuition. Most impressively, when he had to pass an income tax surcharge amid the drop in revenues after Sept. 11, 2001, he repealed it three years later when he didn’t need it any longer. He raised the sales tax one cent in 11 years and did that only after the courts ordered him to do so."
Pretty impressive, eh? It must be, because Arkansas businessman really like him. Then, to top it all off:
"When Governor Huckabee left office last January, he had turned the $200 million state budget shortfall left by his Democrat predecessor into an $844 million surplus allowing his successor to follow Governor Huckabee’s lead to begin the elimination of the state sales tax on food."
And what are his fiscal goals as President? Huckabee is the the only presidential candidate calling for genuine permanent tax reform through the elimination of the IRS and supporting the "FairTax." This well-researched and proven method of taxation "abolishes all federal personal and corporate income taxes, gift, estate, capital gains, alternative minimum, Social Security, Medicare, and self-employment taxes and replaces them with one simple, visible, federal retail sales tax administered primarily by existing state sales tax authorities."
The Professor of Economics at Boston University reports that the FairTax "is more efficient than the current income tax system and these efficiency gains will redound to all Americans." It is designed to make "American goods 12-25% more competitive, boosting economic growth, increasing our exports, and securing American jobs. It also prevents criminals or illegal aliens from avoiding taxes, and makes the taxes we all pay 100% transparent."
By the way, did you know that Mike Huckabee signed the No-Tax Pledge?
So don’t be swayed by the politics. Learn what Mike Huckabee really stands for.
Thank you so much, Robert, for the amount of time you have poured into searching these things out. I know you have spent some late nights on it! God reward you with rest for your diligence in patriotically being involved in the affairs of this nation.
Thanks from my side of the world too, Robert. Nowadays, checking the latest news is more or less the opposite of doing your research. One news station I just checked put Huckabee and Ron Paul in the same catergory as “far behind McCain”. While a true statement, it leads readers in the wrong direction. (According to the Jerusalem Post if I remember right on Wednesday (our time) Paul was at 5%, Huckabee at 20% and McCain at 40% in the polls–again mostly because of the California win.) Thankfully, that one was easy to see through and it’s heartening to see Mike’s resilience. Thanks a ton for your study.
Excellent report Robert. Thank you for the rest of the story.