JEB Gets An "A" (Wall Street Journal)

Republican Party of Florida from The Wall Street Journal ^ | 9/20/02 | Steven Moore & Steven Slivinski

[windchime]

Terrific! Good press and his announcements of his education initiatives should be a good start to the campaign.

[windchime]

Thanks. Just passing on good news!

[windchime]

Thank you!:)

[windchime]

"More RINO's in need of reeducation I fear"

More than likely they'll get this news article from the RPOF in their e-mail and that will begin their reeducation!

[windchime]

You are a marvel! How DO you keep with the entire country?!
Thanks!

[windchime]

And you have it exactly right!

[windchime]

That's what the article said!

[windchime]

Thanks for the bump.

[caltrop]

Bush's comments when McKay made the proposal offered no evidence that he'd said anything to discourage McKay.

JEB always seems to try to have to both ways. He encourages McKay but then pretends he fought the proposal early on. Hogwash. If McKay's proposal hadn't bombed in the polls Bush would have been happy to sign it if it had gotten to his desk. Happily, Speaker Tom Feeney and the rest of the House wouldn't buy it.

Incidentally, the proposal JEB brokered to put a pro-tax commission proposal on the ballot died in court yesterday.

JEB is a Rockefeller Republican, he believes government is the solution and not the problem. He'll reduce the less significant taxes but knows government can only continue to grow with additional revenues. He won't get out from to promote any increases in taxes but if he gets the chance to kill a major revenue enhancer before it gains momentum you can count on him to be absent from the discussion.

[caltrop]

Correction: He won't get out front; not he won't get out from

[nicmarlo]

The lesson of the 1990s is that governors can't tax their way back to prosperity.

Sadly, governors don't learn their lessons, nor do the democRat representatives or senators; sometimes the Republicans do, but not the Rinos.

[aruanan]

Illinois Gov. Ryan's grade of D (and the cash for licenses scandal that gets ever closer to him) shows that he really is a RINO. Too bad that it looks as though Lyin' Ryan has hurt the chances for the election of a Republican to replace him.

[caltrop]

The Senate, under heavy pressure from McKay and (from what I understand) opportunities for JEB to say he'd fight the proposal which were all ignored, passed McKay's proposal. Feeney and the House of Representatives refused to go along and killed it. At that point, Bush came in and brokered a compromise (proposed as Amendment 5) which today's papers report was finally killed by the Florida Supreme Court in a 5-0 decision refusing to overturn a lower court's decision to strike it from the ballot.

This isn't just another insignificant "inside baseball" issue. It dominated Tallahassee politics during this year's legislative session and, with redistricting, gave both Bush and McKay powerful tools to keep legislators in line. Feeney stood up for the taxpayers and provided JEB an opportunity to see leadership up close - an unusual sight in Tallahassee.

[cyncooper]

Jane Hull of Arizona, D

:(

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

You are very welcome. Looking forward to your published letter to the editor. (^:

[Diddle E. Squat]

Which just reinforces my belief that Roy Barnes is the Democrat most likely to win the presidency next.

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

Thank you, (^:

In spite of any negative comments re. Jeb and his diplomatic dealings with McKay (so-called Republican head of Fla.'s Senate and former Lt. Gov. for Dem. Gov. Lawton Chiles), Jeb is a great Governor. There is no such thing as perfection...in politics or in the co-existence of two or more people.

[Inkie]

Tickets are $3 per person.

Hmmm, compare with those friends of the working folks, the Clintons. When could you hobnob with a Democrat for $3 (which probably just covers the cost of your hamburger)?

[Inkie]

I guess sales tax is a two-edged sword. On the one hand, government does need somewhere to get revenue (if not from income taxes or property taxes). And, to some extent, people can decide to spend money or not. On the other hand, sales tax hurts those who can least afford it (unless food is exempted, or there is some exemption for really poor people). Also, it inhibits spending and hurts businesses that produce goods and services that represent discretionary purchases.

The problem I have with income tax is that it doesn't recognize how many hours people work to make their "windfall" income; for example, a couple working a total of 150 hours a week and making $150K combined is considered rich, but look at what their hourly rate turns out to be. Income tax penalizes them. It also penalizes people who save, as do capital gains taxes. And the alternative minimum tax penalizes people with a lot of deductible expenses, like legal expenses, for example, which do not enrich them and are not discretionary one iota.

Taxes are a real mire. Even if we had the flat federal income tax, that would mean state taxes were not deductible, and this could hurt people. I wish someone would come up with a fair formula.

[caltrop]

Florida has some real advantages over most places from the standpoint of a sales tax. We have heavy tourism and a large number of people who live here only briefly in the winter. By definition, most of their spending is not discouraged by a sales tax. Obviously, extending the sales tax to services such as dentists, accountants, etc., would almost exclusively hit the permanent residents.

A Graduated National Sales Tax is, IMHO, the way to go. Such a tax would exempt, for example, the first $10,000 of an automobile's cost, tax the next $5,000 at 10%, the next $5,000 at 20% and so on. This would greatly reduce the regressive effects of a straight sales tax. As far as deducting state income taxes from federal tax, those states without a state income tax currently subsidize those states that do tax income. Obviously most of those in non income tax states think it's a decent trade off if necessary but I'd prefer nobody had the opportunity to deduct state income taxes. The deductibility only encourages profligate spending by the states.