PolicyGuy

Friday, June 27, 2003


GOP=Government Operated Programs
Stateline.org has another story on state finance, uncovering the latest crop of tax increase advocates: Republican governors. The list of governors is long:

Alabama Gov. Bob Riley (income, property tax),
Alaska Gov. Frank Murkowski (car rental tax),
Arkansas Gov. Mike Hucklebee (sales, cigarette),
Connecticut Gov. John Rowland (income, cigarette and sales tax),
Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue (cigarette tax),
Idaho Gov. Dick Kempthorne (sales, cigarette tax),
Maryland Gov. Bob Ehrlich (property tax),
Nevada Gov. Kenny Guinn (property, gambling, corporate fees),
Ohio Gov. Bob Taft (sales)
South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds (cigarette tax)
Utah Gov. Mike Leavitt (beer tax).

Perhaps these men have "grown" in office, or as we used to say, "gone native" in the bureaucracy. Or perhaps they are assessing the political climate, concluding that civil society has grown dependent on the state such that fundamental reform in spending is not politically possible.

"Justice Louis D. Brandeis'?s metaphor of the states as "laboratories" for policy experiments ... had almost nothing to do with federalism and everything to do with his commitment to scientific socialism. .... To this day, it continues to inhibit a truly experimental, federalist politics." -- Michael S. Greve

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