Posted on 11/29/2001 10:45:16 AM PST by missanne
Don't brood, say, 'Tax Me'MICHAEL ROWETT ARKANSAS DEMOCRAT-GAZETTE
Gov. Mike Huckabee on Wednesday mocked lawmakers who have suggested considering tax increases to offset a budgetary retreat by his administration. Anyone who wants to pay more can send a check to a new state Tax Me More Fund, he said.
Speaking to the Arkansas Farm Bureau convention in Little Rock, Huckabee challenged such lawmakers to open their checkbooks and send money to the fund.
The audience initially laughed at the suggestion.
"I'm as serious as I can be," Huckabee said. "It's put-up-or-shut-up time. Either put up the money, write the check and let us see you're serious or quit telling me Arkansans want their taxes raised. Because I'm convinced that Arkansans would say today, 'My taxes are high enough.' "
For those who believe that tax increases provide the answer -- "the liberal tax-and-spenders," Huckabee called them in an interview after his speech -- the state Department of Finance and Administration at the governor's behest set up the Tax Me More Fund. Its address is P.O. Box 8054, Little Rock, Ark. 72203.
Later Wednesday the governor's office issued a news release announcing the account. "There's nothing in the law that prohibits those who believe they aren't paying enough in taxes from writing a check to the state of Arkansas," the release said. "Maybe this will make them feel better."
Money sent in will be used to offset $303 million in state general revenue cuts that his administration has announced for this and the next state fiscal year.
Huckabee said in an interview that he won't send a check. "It's just not where I feel like I need to pay a whole lot more than I'm already paying," he said.
Among lawmakers who say tax increases should at least be considered, including some of Huckabee's fellow Republicans, reaction to the governor's pronouncements ranged from incredulity to anger.
"Obviously, it's a grandstand act and what you would expect of somebody who takes on clownish behavior, and, unfortunately, this is what we've come to expect from this particular governor," said Senate Majority Leader John Riggs, D-Little Rock. "You would hope Arkansas could have a strong leader and a strong CEO, but that's not what we decided to elect when the governor got elected."
"I assume he was kidding," Senate President Pro Tempore Mike Beebe, D-Searcy, said when asked to comment on the Tax Me More Fund. When assured that Huckabee was serious, Beebe, who is running for attorney general next year, said he would have to speak personally to Huckabee before commenting about the fund.
Senate Minority Leader John Brown, R-Siloam Springs, said Huckabee apparently cares more about scoring political points for the 2002 re-election campaign than engaging in serious discussion about budget issues. "He could have responded more appropriately," Brown said. "I wanted to encourage a more public debate, and not one just focused on him."
House Speaker Shane Broadway, D-Bryant, who is considering an electoral challenge to Huckabee next year, said he "has no fault" with the Tax Me More Fund because some Arkansans likely will donate to it. But he said the governor owes Arkansans more serious, less simplistic solutions.
Huckabee said those affected or potentially affected by the state budget cuts could encourage people to send money to the Tax Me More Fund or trust his administration to focus the cuts on administration rather than on direct services.
"Pray a little more, work a little harder, save, wait, be patient and, most of all, live within our means," Huckabee said. "That's the American way. It's not spending ourselves into prosperity or taxing ourselves into prosperity."
Huckabee said the scholarship programs were among his highest priorities, but there are other options to help students go to college without increasing taxes. He suggested that students who won't be getting state-funded scholarships should join the military to finance their education or take out student loans.
"Some of us went the old-fashioned way -- W-O-R-K -- and we worked our way," Huckabee said.
Huckabee said he knows of no public groundswell for higher taxes and suspects there isn't one.
Huckabee told the audience that he has "no intentions" of calling the Legislature into special session to consider any taxes. "There's got to be a better way," he said, provoking one of several rounds of applause from his audience.
After his speech Huckabee hedged a bit, saying he wasn't rejecting such a session under all circumstances.
He also pledged to "vigorously and steadfastly oppose" efforts to establish a state lottery or legalize casinos to offset the budget cuts because gambling "entice[s] the poorest citizens in our state to play games of chance in which they will lose the paycheck they cannot afford to lose for the hopes of winning something they did not earn."
Riggs responded, "I think it's ludicrous to say we don't need to look at revenue enhancements like that."
The governor ridiculed the logic of those who think increasing taxes would be advisable during the current economic downturn. Anyone who thinks more taxes is the answer "lives in luxury ... have more money than good sense" and is out of touch with the hardships faced by working Arkansans, he said.
Teachers likely won't get all the raises they were promised, students will lose access to scholarships, and the needy will be left without services because "the governor is unable to formulate a reasonable budget and is clownish enough to think the state doesn't need some form of revenue enhancement," Riggs said.
Brown commented, "I think we could have had a discussion behind closed doors, with key leadership, but I think that cow's probably out of the barn. It's probably too late. I think part of the problem is that next year's an election year."
It's appropriate for tax increases to at least be considered because the cuts were not anticipated by Huckabee and lawmakers when the Legislature was in session this year and are affecting important areas, Brown said. "I see the car going over the cliff."
Brown last week proposed "targeted," temporary tax increases such as an income tax surcharge or increased tobacco taxes to offset cuts to key programs such as teachers' raises and college scholarships. "I'm sorry he hasn't taken at least my comments more seriously, because they were offered in good faith," Brown said.
He said Arkansans concerned about education and human services would be open to at least considering higher taxes for specific purposes.
Beebe said any consideration of higher taxes should be discussed in the context of a potential ruling against the state in the Lake View school funding case.
That case could result in the largest tax increase in Arkansas history if the Arkansas Supreme Court agrees with a lower court judge that the state should pump as much as $900 million in new funding into public schools.
"That's not really how you deal with the issues we're confronting right now," Broadway said. "I don't think you shut the door to anything. Tax increases aren't easy. But I think you've got to step up to the plate and not just blanketly say no. ... How long will it take the economy to recover? We don't know. We have to look at all the options."
Brown said he doesn't plan to contribute to the Tax Me More Fund because he doesn't consider it a serious approach to the issue. "I'm serious about the needs of teachers. ... I've been in education all my life. It's not a political issue for me," he said.
Huckabee said he's "amazed when people with a straight face say they don't think Sept. 11 [terrorist attacks] had that big an impact on the economy. How anyone can say that in the face of the facts is beyond me."
After revenues began slowing, the Huckabee administration on March 29 chopped $58 million off the administration's original budget estimate for fiscal 2002. He said Wednesday that until the attacks, the state was meeting the lowered March forecast.
The state's general revenue budget totals about $3.4 billion a year. This article was published on Thursday, November 29, 2001 RETURN to Arkansas Section
For years I've wished we could have an optional line on our federal tax form where people who thought taxes were too low could opt to pay more in federal taxes. Like the Presidential Campaign deduction except it would actually change the amount you paid.
I never thought it would raise money. I just would have loved to ask the liberals who want tax increases how much extra tax they contributed. Liberals always love to make rules that affect others but not themselves.
This is beautiful. I hope Huckabee hits them over the head with this again and again.
We need to perfect the human cloning technique and clone Gov Mike to replace Gov DimBulb in Kalifornia.
LOL! That's really funny.
Huckabee for veep in 2008?
No one came forward to accept the prize.
And he didnt make it hard by having a 5 minute window of opportunity. He kept repeating his offer for WEEKS!
MKM
I still think the worries about Cheney's health will be an issue in 2004, so maybe he's ready then....
They hate the smell of "liberty" in the morning.
GO GOV. MIKE GO!
The Tax Me More Fund, I thought that was the Democratic National Committee.
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