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Friday, January 9, 2009
Lawmakers: Don’t hide from tax hikes
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Another of the few years that Republicans under the Gold Dome have remaining in power starts on Monday with the dominant issue being how best to raise taxes. History provides the answer for Republicans. Cleverly.
For the Dems, the answer is to exhibit much angst and hand-wringing before, darn it, they are moved by civic obligation to “enhance revenue.” For Republicans, it is to profess opposition to higher taxes, while disguising them as “fees” or gallantly standing aside and allowing voters to decide whether they wish to spend a token sum to cure a grievous public problem — poor schooling, jobs or traffic congestion.
Both the mislabeled fees and the stand-aside posturing reflect a lack of leadership, political gutlessness and the gamesmanship that breeds cynicism and distrust among voters. It’s the weasel politics that so alienated the conservative base about Congress.
If legislators want to raise the sales tax and use the money to fund transportation projects, for example, they should do it straight-up. Make the case. Tell us what we’re getting for the penny. And then raise taxes. No games. No bogus studies without context showing that voters are clamoring for higher taxes or for more spending.
It’s worth noting that the gallant men and women who oppose higher taxes but do support the voters’ right to choose never think it appropriate to let them decide whether to choose a cap on state spending or some other spending-restraint device.
As Republicans go, you have to give it to state Rep. Ron Stephens of Savannah, who is said to be one. He prefiled a bill for a tax of $1.37 per pack on cigarettes and 25 percent of the wholesale cost on loose or smokeless tobacco. That would be up from 37 cents per pack now and 10 percent of the wholesale cost on loose and smokeless.
On taxes, one is inclined to think of Stephens as the young soldier in the movie “Patton” who arises from the floor in a somnolent military headquarters in response to the question, “What are you doing there, soldier?” “Trying to get some sleep, sir,” he replies.
“Well, get back down there, son,” responds Patton. “You’re the only [expletive deleted] in this headquarters who knows what he’s trying to do.”
That’s not exactly apt. The invective has no specific application here, and plenty of those under the Gold Dome know what they’re trying to do. They just don’t want you to know that they did it when they do it.
Stephens for his part sounds like the generic politician, one who offers his proposed tax increase as “a sound solution to the state’s fiscal crisis that will help, not hurt, the state’s ability to operate responsibly while continuing to serve all its residents.” It would serve all its residents by making smoking prohibitively expensive and by reimbursing the state for some of the costs of treating those with tobacco-related illnesses, he has argued. Therefore, to the clever Republican, it is a kind of “user fee.”
State Sen. Jack Murphy (R-Cumming) offers a kind of user-fee argument with legislation he’s considering that would impose a surcharge of $3 to $5 each on strip-club patrons. The money would go, he says, to services for sexually-exploited youngsters.
Tax strip-club patrons as you will, but don’t pretend it’s a user fee and don’t offer the excuse that it’s to be spent on some particular program. If a program doesn’t stand on its merits, it doesn’t warrant a linked tax.
State Rep. Chuck Sims of Ambrose proposes to tax groceries for two years, a tax increase of just under a billion dollars a year. It’s a bold proposal from one not given to adventurism in drafting legislation unsought by higher-ups. To such signals, the lay fiscal conservative should be alert. Sims’ concern, expressed to reporter James Salzer, is that budget cuts to be proposed by Gov. Sonny Perdue will be “too drastic.”
The lay fiscal conservative should be alert, too, to the prospect that Republicans will maneuver cleverly to get rid of the $428 million in state tax relief grants that go to offset local property taxes. If done, it would come in the 2009-2010 fiscal year starting July 1.
There’s no clever way to take the break back. Legislators could try to couple withdrawal with a cap on the growth of assessments. If so, not a one of them will have the moral authority to call the national Democrats to task for raising taxes when they allow the Bush tax cuts to expire.
State Sen. Jack Hill (R-Reidsville), chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, thinks the sluggish economy makes it time to re-examine the sales tax structure. That means spread the tax to services, an idea that never goes away. Just be honest and aboveboard. Make the case for new money and levy the taxes, straight-up. No games. No deceit.
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