Huckabee A Tax-And-Spend Liberal?
The Club For Growth is no fan of Mike Huckabee. Andrew Roth says he’s a habitual tax-hiker who:
…also opposes school choice, and spends money like a drunken sailor (he increased spending 65.3% from 1996 to 2004).
I’m sorry, but he is NOT one of the best Republican governors in the country and he’s not presidential material. Period.
Them’s fighting words, says BSR:
…[A]ccording to a new report issued by The Tax Foundation, Arkansas’ per capita tax burden is BELOW the national average, making Arkansas one of the more tax-friendly states in the nation.
According to the report, Arkansas ranks 27th on the list with a per capita tax burden of 10.30%, below the national average of 10.60%.
Furthermore, Arkansas’ tax ranking has improved significantly since Huckabee took over as Governor. During Clinton’s time as Governor, Arkansas’ per capita tax burden ranking was never lower than 38.
When Huckabee became Governor in 1996, the state’s per capita tax burden ranking began dropping, reaching a low of 23 in 2,000 and stabilizing in the 27 range, a full 11 places better than than [sic] Arkansas has ever ranked before.
Arkansas also has the second lowest property taxes in the nation (only Alabama is lower) and is one of only 16 states that offer tax breaks to seniors.
Thanks, Mark. Appreciate the link!
BSR
I don’t know if Huckabee is the best Governor in the US or not, and he’s not my first pick for the Republican Presidential nomination, but he does have one advantage over all of the other Republican candidates.
It is likely the Democratic campaign in 2008 will essentially be the theme “everything was wonderful in the 1990s and everything sucks now, therefore Clinton was a better President than Bush, therefore the Democrats should run the country rather than the Republicans.” If Huckabee is the nominee, and he is running against Hillary, he can turn that campaign on its head and compare Arkansas economic performance on his watch vs. its performance on Bill’s watch (plus all the myriad of scandals in the Arkansas statehouse during the Clinton/ Tucker era).
All of the data above are rankings. These data in no way exonerate Mike Huckabee from accusations of being a big taxer and spender. Such data only indicate in relative terms- apparently other state governments than Arkansas’s are becoming even more voracious tax and spenders.
[...] led some voters to believe he would do the same as President. The “tax-and-spend Liberal” had applied to Huckabee enough times that his honesty about his conservative credentials and his Fair Tax policy were put [...]