The Cato Institute put out Monday their annual report card on the nation's governors. Gov. Steve Beshear didn't get a grade because he is still new, but -- based on what we have seen so far --don't expect him to do very well next year. The following familiar themes for BIPPS readers are what they are looking for now:
"Fiscal policies need to be improved if the states are to meet the huge challenges ahead. Medicaid costs continue to rise, state debt is soaring, and the pension and health care plans of state workers have huge funding gaps. At the same time, rising international tax competition makes it imperative that states cut tax rates to attract jobs and investment. Governors don’t have an easy job, but they do need to pursue more aggressive fiscal reforms to meet the challenges of an increasingly competitive economy."
And this is what they found in West Virginia:
"Joe Manchin of West Virginia has concentrated on cutting business taxes to help boost investment in his state. In 2006, Manchin approved reductions in the business franchise and corporate income taxes. In 2007, he cut the franchise tax further. In 2008, Manchin signed into law a repeal of the business franchise tax and a reduction in the corporate income tax rate. Manchin also has an excellent spending record, and recommends cuts to the overall general fund budget most years."
2 comments:
Not surprisingly, the Cato Institute didn't recommend changing the tax system to a proportional system. Why? Because proportional is fairness, and that's the last thing the Cato Institute would advocate.
Perhaps Cato should read Alexander Hamilton's proportional taxation idea, and work on how this could best be implemented.
Hamilton wrote:
"The ability of a country to pay taxes must always be proportioned, in a great degree, to the quantity of money in circulation, and to the celerity with which it circulates. Commerce, contributing to both these objects, must of necessity render the payment of taxes easier, and facilitate the requisite supplies to the treasury."
But then that may be expecting too much. After all, John Stuart Mill did say:
"Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives."
I don't quite follow, smokey. Are you suggesting we raise taxes on the poor to create a more proportional system, or just cutting the top tax bracket?
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