Tax and Spend
HUCKABEE IS A BIG FAT X ON THIS. He is a tax-and-spender and his 10 year record as Governor is ample ample evidence of this.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1950905/posts?page=17#17
* Immediately upon taking office, Governor Huckabee signed a sales tax hike in 1996 to fund the Games and Fishing Commission and the Department of Parks and Tourism.[5]
* He supported an internet sales tax in 2001.[6]
* He publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002.[7]
* He signed bills raising taxes on gasoline (1999), cigarettes (2003)[8], and a $5.25 per day bed-tax on private nursing home patients in 2001.[9]
* He proposed another sales take hike in 2002 to fund education improvements.[10]
* He opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003.[11]
* In 2004, he allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law.[12]
“McCAIN — I’m not sure. His record is pretty close to Fred’s, though I’ve never heard anyone accuse McCain of being a closet pro-choicer,” McCain approved of Roe v Wade back in the late 1990s. He flipped for this election.
Since there can can be numerous examples for and against Huckabee on taxes and spending, he ends up having a mixed bag on this issue.
If McCain was okay with the status quo on abortion in the late 90s (I haven't seen any evidence of this, and it would seem odd in light of the fact he ran as a stauch pro-lifer in the 80s and was endorsed by Reagan), it would be little different than Fred bluntly saying we shouldn't "criminilize" abortiion in 1994, and the infamous Tennesseans for Choice questionnaire filled out by Fred in 1996 where said the government should not ban abortion, expressed support for the public financing of abortions in specific cases, and (as if that wasn’t enough), stated that he voted to provide funding for the infamous Title X family planning programs.
Assuming that tax policies implemented by a Governor in the context of a particular state’s needs, would be carried over to the federal level is a flawed assumption. I would be much more interested in understanding a candidates commitment to relieving the burden of government on individuals. In this regard, Huckabee’s tax proposal is worth a strong look.
Any candidates unwillingness to pursue massive changes in the status quo structure of the tax system tells me they aren’t really interested in getting government off the backs of people.
I am sure people like Rush Limbaugh and Mark Levin, who have worked their hardest in the past few days to slap down Huckabee and McCain, must wonder why one of the most viable conservatives running has a truth file on this top conservative site and Huckabee, McCain, Hillary and Obama do not.