Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has taken to calling himself a “fiscal conservative,” but who ever heard of a fiscal conservative who raised taxes and spending through the roof while governor of Arkansas? Mike Huckabee is also calling himself “a different kind of Republican,” but that’s just a codeword for a big-government Republican who wants to cover up his tax-and-spend record with folksy talking points and one-liners. Sorry Tax Hike Mike. No dice.

On The Record

Mike Huckabee is getting cozy with labor unions. He was the only Republican candidate to recently [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. in front of the National Education Association and the International Association of Machinists. He even received the latter's [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. !

Huckabee called No Child Left Behind "the greatest education reform effort by the federal government in my lifetime." (Washington Times 03/01/05)

Here's what Mike Huckabee [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. about Rep. Don Young of Alaska, a 3-time [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. :
"As Governor of Arkansas and NGA Chairman, I worked closely with Don on a range of critical issues, including transportation -- which is a passion we both share. I've seen him in action and respect his commitment -- not only to the people of Alaska, but to our country. I have deep respect for the job he has done in Congress, and I know he'll do a great job as chairman of my congressional team."

Huckabee raised the minimum wage in April 2006 from $5.15 to $6.25 an hour and encouraged Congress to take the same initiative on a national level (US Newswire 08/03/06)


Huckabee's Laundry List of Liberalism

National Review's Kathryn Lopez recently [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. Pat Toomey, president of the Club for Growth. Here's one excerpt:

Kathryn Jean Lopez: Is Mike Huckabee really as bad as you say he is?
Pat Toomey: He’s every bit as bad, and you don’t have to just take our word for it. [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. , you and your fellow editors at [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. , [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. , and [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. — to name just a few conservative writers — agree that Mike Huckabee is no conservative. You can read the Club’s [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. on our website, but here is a quick summary of Huckabee’s worst hits. According to the [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. , the average Arkansas tax burden increased 47% over Huckabee’s tenure. Huckabee supported (in chronological order) a sales tax hike; gas and diesel fuel tax hikes; another sales tax hike; a cigarette tax hike; a nursing home bed tax; another sales tax hike; an income surcharge tax; a tobacco tax hike; taxes on Internet access; and higher beer taxes. Huckabee also oversaw a 50-percent increase in spending; happily signed a minimum wage increase and encouraged national Republicans to do the same; favors a [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. , [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. , and a federally mandated [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. ; opposes private school choice; and employs class-warfare and protectionist language on the campaign trail. Huckabee calls himself an economic conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan, but the above list doesn’t sound like either.

Read more [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. .
Posted on November 28, 2007 8:16 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

FactCheck.org Sides with Club for Growth PAC

FactCheck.org recently conducted [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. of Huckabee's fiscal record and his attempts to defend it. Here's an excerpt from their leading summary:

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee has been hit with criticism over his record on taxes as governor of Arkansas. The faultfinders have been members of his own party, who take issue with tax increases he enacted. In recent interviews on Fox News, Huckabee responded to some of these questions, but we found him to be misleading and incorrect on several points.

Read it all [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. .
Posted on November 27, 2007 12:04 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

IBD Editorial on Huckabee

From the editors at [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. :

But erstwhile man of the cloth and former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, whose appeal among evangelicals has raised him to within striking distance in Iowa, has continually attacked the Club for Growth, a major champion of conservative economic policies, as the "Club for Greed."
Calling capitalists Scrooges is straight out of the liberal Democratic playbook. A more helpful retort from Huckabee would be to address the Club's concerns about his approving an income-tax surcharge in Little Rock.

Posted on November 27, 2007 9:24 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Two Good Interviews

The Club's press secretary, Nachama Soloveichik, [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. on the Lars Larson Show last Thursday about Mike Huckabee's liberal record on economic issues.
Also, the Club's director of government affairs, Andy Roth, [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. Joe Carter in a podcast interview hosted by Adam Graham. Carter is a Huckabee supporter and a blogger at [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. .
Posted on November 19, 2007 3:08 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

National Review on Huckabee

National Review published [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. on Huckabee today:

Unfortunately, what Huckabee offers by way of solutions is a mixture of populism and big-government liberalism; the common theme of his policies is that they are half-baked. If an ill-considered slogan can be used to justify a policy, he is for it. He is a protectionist, because we need to have “fair trade.” He wants to put illegal immigrants on a path to citizenship, because we need them “to do jobs that are going unfilled because nobody here wants to do them.” Energy subsidies and farm subsidies must be increased, because they’re a matter of “national security.”
When he was governor of Arkansas, these instincts led Huckabee to move farther and farther in a statist direction. (Education policy offers a nice example of what happens when his statism and his social conservatism conflict: He opposes meaningful school choice.) The Cato Institute gave him a D on fiscal policy, noting that spending had increased at three times the rate of inflation during his governorship. Not surprisingly, Huckabee is the one Republican candidate who flinched when President Bush vetoed the Democrats’ proposed expansion of S-CHIP. He says he is against socialized medicine, but don’t look for him to resist the drift toward it.

Posted on November 19, 2007 2:07 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee Gets Confused

In trying to defend his speech calling for higher taxes, Governor Mike Huckabee actually defended the wrong tax hike. But seriously, it's an honest mistake. When you support higher taxes as often as he did, you're bound to get them confused.


HT: [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.
Posted on November 15, 2007 11:03 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

The Dark Side of Mike Huckabee

Having covered Mike Huckabee for the past 16 years, Arkansas journalist Max Brantley knows a thing or two about the man, and [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. .
Posted on November 13, 2007 1:47 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee's 'Profound Thanks' for Tax Hikes

The Arkansas Journal blog [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. of a video. They write:

Governor Mike Huckabee addressed the Arkansas General Assembly, pleading with them to pass a tax, any tax. He ticked off a list of various taxes that he would find acceptable, a tax on tobacco, a surcharge on the income tax, a sales tax... "I will very happily sign that," he proclaimed.

In the end, he told the crowd that they "would have nothing but [his] profound thanks" for passing tax hikes. Wow, so much for principled leadership.

Cross-posted on the [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. blog.
Posted on November 12, 2007 11:13 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee Fibs on Gas Tax Hike

The Club for Growth PAC has issued this new video to expose Governor Huckabee's continual (and false) insistance that Arkansas voters approved of his gas tax hike on the ballot. They did not.
The Washington Post's Chris Cillizza has [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. that you should definitely check out.




PAID FOR BY CLUB FOR GROWTH PAC AND NOT AUTHORIZED BY ANY CANDIDATE OR CANDIDATE'S COMMITTEE. 202-955-5500.
Posted on November 8, 2007 4:50 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Fred Thompson on Tax Hike Mike

The fiscal part of this interview doesn't occur until the end.

Posted on November 6, 2007 9:16 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee on CNN

Wolf Blitzer [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. Huckabee to defend his tax hike record.
Posted on October 31, 2007 8:34 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee's Tax Hiking Record




Washington – Yesterday, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer asked Mike Huckabee to respond to Club for Growth President Pat Toomey’s op-ed on National Review Online, but Huckabee had no defense for his many tax hikes and liberal record.
Instead, Huckabee bloviated about pheasant hunting and called himself an “authentic conservative,” but didn’t explain how an “authentic conservative” could have supported or raised as many tax hikes as he did as Governor of Arkansas. These include:

• Sales Tax, 1996 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11/07/96)
• Gas and Diesel Fuel Taxes, 1999 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 04/02/99, 04/25/99)
• Sales Tax, 2000 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 09/25/02)
• Cigarette Tax, 2001 (Associated Press, 04/02/01)
• Nursing Home Bed Tax, 2001 (Associated Press, 06/25/01)
• Sales Tax, 2002 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11/15/02)
• Income Surcharge Tax, 2003 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/09/07)
• Tobacco Tax, 2003 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 10/09/07)
• Internet Taxes, 2004 (Bond Buyer, 02/24/04)

“No doubt, Huckabee is an engaging speaker, but even the most gifted politician can’t talk his way out of the laundry list of tax hikes Mike Huckabee is carrying around,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Sooner or later, Mike Huckabee is going to have to answer for his liberal tax-and-spend record, and humorous one-liners and half-truths won’t cut it. The American people deserve honest answers, not a stand-up routine.”
Posted on October 29, 2007 2:52 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

How Others Feel About Huckabee, Part III

From John Fund's [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. about Huckabee in the Wall Street Journal:

Many Huckabee supporters have told me their man should be judged by what he's saying on the campaign trail today. Fair enough. Mr. Huckabee was the only GOP candidate to refuse to endorse President Bush's veto of the Democrats' bill to vastly expand the Schip health-care program. Only he and John McCain have endorsed the discredited cap-and-trade system to limit global-warming emissions that has proved a fiasco in Europe.
"It goes to the moral issue," he told an admiring group of environmentalists this month. Alan Greenspan blasts cap-and-trade in his new book as not feasible, noting that "jobs will be lost and real incomes of workers constrained." Mr. Huckabee defends his plan as an "innovative" way to attain complete energy independence from foreign oil by 2013.

Posted on October 26, 2007 8:38 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

How Others Feel About Huckabee, Part II

From John Fund's [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. about Huckabee in the Wall Street Journal:

"[Huckabee] has zero intellectual underpinnings in the conservative movement," says Blant Hurt, a former part owner of, and columnist for, Arkansas Business magazine. "He's hostile to free trade, hiked sales and grocery taxes, backed sales taxes on Internet purchases, and presided over state spending going up more than twice the inflation rate."

Posted on October 26, 2007 8:36 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

How Others Feel About Huckabee

From John Fund's [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. about Huckabee in the Wall Street Journal:

Betsy Hagan, Arkansas director of the conservative Eagle Forum and a key backer of [Huckabee's] early runs for office, was once "his No. 1 fan." She was bitterly disappointed with his record. "He was pro-life and pro-gun, but otherwise a liberal," she says. "Just like Bill Clinton he will charm you, but don't be surprised if he takes a completely different turn in office."

Posted on October 26, 2007 8:33 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

The Two Parts of Huckabee

National Review's Ramesh Ponnuru [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. ,

[Huckabee] seems to combine some of Pat Buchanan's bad ideas with some of George W. Bush's. He's the protectionist compassionate conservative. No thanks.

Posted on October 23, 2007 3:19 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

More on Huckabee's Debate Performance

From John Fund at the [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. ($):

Mr. Huckabee believes that economic inequality is creating "a level of discontent that's going to create a huge appetite for unions." He also sounded cautionary notes about free trade and entitlement reform that are relatively rare for a Republican. Asked if he would support President Bush's veto of the budget-busting increase in the children's health care program SCHIP, Mr. Huckabee declined to say he would have issued a similar veto "because there are going to be so many issues we've got to fight. And the political loss of that is going to be enormous."
Translation: When it comes to tough political fights on spending, don't look for a President Huckabee to be there.

Posted on October 10, 2007 1:56 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee's Debate Performance

From [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. :

[F]ormer Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee is about as economically conservative as was liberal New York Republican Governor Nelson Rockefeller -- which means that on substance at least, Huckabee absolutely stunk up the stage, especially when he refused to back President George W. Bush’s veto of the crazily socialistic expansion of the SCHIP children’s health program. (Huckabee was so liberal overall that Clinton’s lefty former Labor Secretary positively gushed over him in post-debate analysis on CNBC.)

Posted on October 10, 2007 9:29 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Mike Huckabee's Tax Hikes

Tax Burden Sky-Rocketed under Huckabee

Washington – The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette ran [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. today confirming what the Club for Growth PAC has been saying for months now: Mike Huckabee is a tax-hiker plain and simple.
According to the Democrat-Gazette, “the average Arkansan’s tax burden grew from $1,969 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 1997, to $2,902 in the fiscal year that ended June 30, 2005, including local taxes,” a whopping tax increase of 47% under Huckabee’s tenure. Tax legislation passed while Huckabee was governor totaled “a net tax increase of $505 million, a figure adjusted for inflation and economic growth,” according to the Arkansas Department of Finance and Administration.
Huckabee likes to wave away criticisms of his economic record by saying he cut taxes 90 times, but the same Democrat-Gazette article points out that the so-called 90 tax cuts included one medium tax cut ($90 million) and 89 tiny cuts. Clearly, Huckabee’s tax increases far outstripped any of his tax cuts, reaching a net tax increase of $505 million. Some of these include:

• Higher sales taxes (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11/07/96)
• Higher gas taxes (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 06/29/99)
• Higher grocery taxes (Associated Press, 09/11/02; Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 11/17/02)
• Higher taxes on nursing home beds (Associated Press, 06/25/01)

“In past debates, Huckabee has dismissed criticisms of his tax record with superficial answers and half-truths,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey. “Hopefully, tonight’s moderators will not let Huckabee off the hook so easily. Voters across America have a right to know the truth about Mike Huckabee’s tax-hiking record.”
Posted on October 9, 2007 11:01 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee Wants Someone to Believe in Him

From the [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. :

Former Gov. Mike Huckabee on Friday blamed campaign finance laws and a failing within his own campaign for his poor fundraising record. He hopes to fix things by recruiting a national finance chairman who fits the aforementioned description.
"I don't want some fast-talking, slick guy. I want somebody who believes in me," Huckabee said, before joking: "That's the hard part: finding somebody who believes in me."

Posted on October 8, 2007 1:32 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Mike Huckabee's Track Record

The Truth about Mike Huckabee

Washington – Ask Governor Huckabee to defend his ten-year tax-and-spend record as governor of Arkansas and this is what he has to say for himself: “Club for Greed.”
“If this was a schoolyard playground, we might be impressed with Huckabee’s talent for name-calling,” said Club for Growth President Pat Toomey, “but seeing as Mike Huckabee is a grown adult running for President of the United States, American taxpayers have a right to expect a little more than silly insults and political propaganda. They have a right to expect the truth.”
Allow us to do the honors:
HUCKABEE: “Did we raise taxes on fuel? Yes. But 80% of the people voted on it because it was on the ballot” (“Meet The Press,” 01/28/07).
TRUTH: Governor Huckabee signed a gas and diesel fuel tax increase that was not contingent on voter approval. A second bill, which raised $475 million dollar in bonds, did require voter approval. Governor Huckabee shouldn’t falsely blame the voters for his tax increase.

HUCKABEE: “We were under a Supreme Court order to raise revenue for our schools” (“Meet the Press,” 01/2/07).
TRUTH: The Arkansas Supreme Court required the Legislature to devote more funds to education, but the Legislature had the option of cutting spending on other programs. It was not forced to raise taxes. When the Legislature raised sales taxes by 17%, Huckabee did not sign the bill, but he did not veto or fight the tax increase either. He also opposed repeal of the sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002 and proposed a sales tax increase of his own shortly thereafter.

HUCKABEE: “I have always been staunchly opposed to any tax on Internet access. I am adamantly opposed, always have been. For them to say anything otherwise is an outright lie” (National Review, 09/10/07).
TRUTH: In February of 2004, Huckabee joined with two other Democratic governors in urging Congress to reject a bill that would make the Internet access tax moratorium permanent and embrace a temporary two-year extension of the ban instead.

HUCKABEE: “I've earned my stripes in government. I've run something. I've made tough decisions. I've balanced budgets” (Human Events, 06/18/07).
TRUTH: Balancing the Arkansas state budget is not a demonstration of Huckabee’s alleged fiscal responsibility but a function of Arkansas law that requires governors to produce a balanced budget each year. In fact, every Arkansas governor over the past fifty years has balanced the budget, from Orval Faubus, to Bill Clinton, to Mike Huckabee.
“If Governor Huckabee thinks he can wave away his tax-and-spend record with clever nicknames and half-baked stories, he has another thing coming,” Mr. Toomey added. “Make no mistake: Governor Huckabee is no economic conservative and—here’s a little bit of advice—making fun of the Club for Growth won’t actually make him one.”
Posted on September 18, 2007 10:01 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee Gets a Failing Grade

Every two years, the Cato Institute grades the 50 governors on fiscal stewardship. Here's last year's [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. of Tax Hike Mike [emphasis added]:

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. Huckabee wants to run for the GOP presidential nomination next year. He’s already been hailed as a viable big-government conservative candidate by some. That seems about right: Huckabee’s leadership has left taxpayers in Arkansas much worse off.

Posted on September 13, 2007 9:25 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee Gets Cozy with Unions


Posted on September 11, 2007 3:37 PM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee's Laundry List of Tax Hikes

• Signed a sales tax hike in 1996 (Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/9.
• Supported an internet sales tax in 2001 (Reuters, 02/23/04).
• Publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 09/11/02).
• Signed a gas tax in 1999 (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, 06/29/99)
• Signed cigarette tax hike in 2003 (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07)
• Signed a bed tax on private nursing home patients in 2001 (Associated Press 06/29/01).
• Proposed a sales take hike in 2002 (Arkansas News Bureau 12/05/02).
• Opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003 (Arkansas News Bureau 11/21/03).
• Allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law in 2004 (The Gurdon Times 03/02/04).

Posted on September 11, 2007 11:48 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huckabee's Tax and Spend Record


Posted on September 11, 2007 11:41 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Huck and Hillary - Two Peas in a Pod

From an Arkansas Leader [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. [emphasis added]:

Our former governor might be the GOP’s best candidate against Sen. Clinton, at least among the present and forthcoming challengers, but his strength would be that he is closest to, not farthest from, Sen. Clinton on the issues and their records. Better than the others, he might carve into the middle ground of independent voters who would otherwise tilt toward the Democrat.
We noticed that he was not very specific on their contrasts. It was strange that he vaguely mentioned two comparisons: education and health care. It would be hard to separate the former Arkansas governor and the former Arkansas first lady on those issues, based on their Arkansas records. It was on education and health care that as Arkansas first lady she made a lasting imprint.
[...] You will remember that ArKids First, the great expansion of government-paid health insurance for children, was Arkansas Advocates’ suggestion to the newly sworn in Gov. Huckabee in 1996. He eagerly embraced it and calls it even today his proudest achievement.
[...] As governor, Huckabee sought and won a federal waiver for a plan to have the federal government — that’s you — subsidize health insurance for poor adult workers. Other Republicans, including President Bush, are opposing that remedy as creeping socialism.

Posted on September 11, 2007 9:49 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

Mike Huckabee Cut Taxes 94 Times? Hardly.

Former Governor Mike Huckabee loves to claim to have cut taxes an astounding 94 times. One such quote: “I was the first governor in the history of my state to ever lower taxes, the first one in 160 years. We lowered a total of 94 different taxes and fees.”
The Arkansas Times, which has been covering Huckabee since before he was elected governor over 10 years ago, nicely [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. that misleading assertion.

That kind of claim is easily proven false. To name a few tax cuts before him: Clinton in 1991 eliminated income taxes on tens of thousands of low-income families; Dale Bumpers did the same in 1973. Clinton cut capital-gains taxes. Gov. Ben T. Laney eliminated all state ad-valorem taxes, reduced inheritance taxes and gave a homestead exemption for local property taxes.
By claiming to have cut taxes 94 times, Huckabee fixed a standard for what is a tax cut: every little exemption, credit, deduction or tax break of any kind. By that standard every governor the past 60 years cut taxes numerous times. No session of the legislature passes without a dozen or more such cuts.
But tax increases have far outweighed tax cuts in magnitude, and they did under Huckabee, too.
The major tax cut that he claimed, the omnibus income tax cuts for working families in 1997, was the program of Gov. Jim Guy Tucker, who resigned before the legislative session where it was enacted. The legislature rejected Huckabee’s plan but he signed the bill patterned on Tucker plan and thus can claim some credit for it.

Posted on August 27, 2007 10:41 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

A Tale of Two Candidates

This excerpt is from the [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link. on September 18, 2005. After two years of dramatically shrinking deficits, who do you think was right?

Two potential candidates for the Republican presidential nomination met with religious conservatives and party activists Saturday, but split on whether to push for more tax cuts in the face of swelling federal deficits.
Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who met privately with leaders of the state's Christian Coalition and with key officials of the Iowa Republican Party, said it isn't realistic to talk about pushing for tax cuts.
"I think the key right now is to prevent taxes from going up," Huckabee said during an appearance on Iowa Public Television. "I don't think it's realistic to say we're going to go in and slash taxes."
Across town, Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback was taking precisely the opposite approach.
"To balance the budget we have to do two things," Brownback said. "We have to have a growing economy and we have to restrain the growth in spending. The growing economy is stimulated by the proper tax cuts."

Sit back and have fun watching the Huckabee fans out there somehow use this as evidence that the Club for Growth PAC is supporting Brownback. (We are not)
Posted on August 27, 2007 10:00 AM | [LINK POSTED BY MEMBER] Only Members Can View This Truck Forum Link.

someone has way too much time on their hands.
has all the trappings of a political recruiter.
isnt there a rule about recruiters on this site?

Or maybe he could have saved all that cutting and pasting and simply stated,

I'm not voting for Huckabee.

But then I guess we wouldn't have had the pleasure of wading through three posts full of garbage that I didn't even read anyway, since I'm not voting for him either.

Is the state of Arkansas running a budget surplus or a deficit? Remember, in most cases taxes and tax increases are driven by public demand for government services.
rx

arkansas actually just lowered the tax on food, but imho there should not be a tax on food.

Agreed. Is it a tax on all food items?
rx

as far as i know it is on all items, but is supposed to be phased out in the next several years

Still I stand by the facts posted. Huck isn't the great conservative he's cracked up to be.