[unspun]

Irrational Anti-Huckabee Kool-Aid Drinking Game Alert

Excerpt from Medved: According to figures from the non-partisan Tax Foundation (based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce), Huckabee’s term as governor (1996-2007) led to a modest increase in the overall State-Local tax burden for Arkansas: from 10.1% in the year he became governor to 11.1% the last year he served. In terms of overall tax burden (state-local-federal) Arkansas remained virtually unchanged--- from 30.3% (39th among the 50 states) to 30.5% (32nd place). That is a difference of 1%.*

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*Huckabee left a record $844.5 million surplus in Arkansas. He recommended that it be returned to the taxpayer in rebates or tax cuts. (The next governor and legislature have been working at eliminating the tax on food.) That is not taken into account in the criticizms of Huckabee's financial record. It is not even taken into account in this measurement of an otherwise 1% increase -- during a time when the federal government was dumping unfunded mandates upon the states.

Mike Huckabee, not just a Whig, is a fully-formed Republican (or Abraham Lincoln wasn't) and going back to the tradition of James Madison and Adam Smith.

[fieldmarshaldj]

Please list all the Republicans that Huckster helped elect to office in Arkansas. Start with Governor.

[eleni121]

Thanks for the straight talk on Huckabee...the anti Huckabee rhetoric and lies are getting to be ridiculous even around here.

[WOSG]

“Huckabee’s term as governor (1996-2007) led to a modest increase in the overall State-Local tax burden for Arkansas: from 10.1% in the year he became governor to 11.1% the last year he served.”

ROLFLMAO! You call INCREASING THE BURDEN OF GOVT ON THE ECONOMY BY 10% “MODEST”???
The fiscal conservative thing to do is to shrink Government in proportion to the economy, not GROW THE GOVERNMENT BIGGER THAN THE ECONOMY IS GROWING, which is what Huckabee did.

That burden is ON TOP of the increase in Government due to the population, economy, etc. Only a tax-and-spend liberal could increase the size of Government like that!

Every two years, the Cato Institute grades the 50 governors on fiscal stewardship. Here’s last year’s assessment of Tax Hike Mike: they ranked him 45th out of 50, near dead last.

Thanks to a final term grade of F, Huckabee earns an overall grade of D for his entire governorship. Like many Republicans, his grades dropped the longer he stayed in office. In his first few years, he fought hard for a sweeping $70 million tax cut package that was the first broad-based tax cut in the state in more than 20 years. He even signed a bill to cut the state’s 6 percent capital gains tax—a significant pro-growth accomplishment. But nine days after being reelected in 2002, he proposed a sales tax increase to cover a budget deficit caused partly by large spending increases that he proposed and approved, including an expansion in Medicare eligibility that Huckabee made a centerpiece of his 1997 agenda. He agreed to a 3 percent income tax “surcharge” and a 25-cent cigarette tax increase. In response to a court order to increase spending on education, Huckabee proposed another sales tax increase.
http://taxhikemike.org

Huckabee’s record is one of a tax-and-spend liberal. You can either lie about it and pretend its not a tax-and-spend record, or you can pretend it doesn’t matter. Save the koolaid for the Huckster supporters. they are obviously the ones drinking it.

[the808bass]

According to figures from the non-partisan Tax Foundation (based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce), Huckabee’s term as governor (1996-2007) led to a modest increase in the overall State-Local tax burden for Arkansas: from 10.1% in the year he became governor to 11.1% the last year he served. In terms of overall tax burden (state-local-federal) Arkansas remained virtually unchanged--- from 30.3% (39th among the 50 states) to 30.5% (32nd place). That is a difference of 1%.*

Good selective quoting of the Tax Foundation. I'll do some selective quoting of my own from the Tax Foundation.

In 1996, the total state & local tax burden in Arkansas was 10.1%, a ranking of 30th in the nation. By 2007, the climb to 11.1% of the state-local taxes brought Arkansas to 13th highest state and local taxes. This in a state that placed consistently in the 40s for federal tax burden.

The reason that the total taxation (federal-state-local) stayed low is only because federal taxes stayed low. If Huckabee had been President, that would have been trouble. Hmmmmm......

[Uncle Ivan]

Mike Huckabee, not just a Whig, is a fully-formed Republican

[ajay_kumar]

Why in the world would Huckster raise taxes so high that a surplus developed in the first place?

I think I know why he likes to raise taxes. Because then he can give the money to as charity. It is very admirable to give money away to charity AS LONG IT IS YOURS. No one has the right to give away money which does not belong to you, it belongs to the Tax Payers.

[Mr Rogers]

So the state-local tax burden increased by 10% under Huckabee.

Not horrible, but hardly an impressive record. And of course, it was ‘for the children’.

I don’t want my Federal taxes to go up by 10%, so I’ll skip voting for the Huckster.

[Teacher317]

I’ve read that the “record surplus” he left was mostly due to the policies of the previous governor and the state congress.