Huckabee, taxes, & vets
by WonkoKevin
Mike Huckabee increased in Wonkosphere buzz share amongst conservative bloggers to 14% yesterday. The buzz on Huckabee was largely about taxes. FairTax.org features a Huckabee video where he discusses his ideas for revamping taxes, and Kevin Tracy reports on a letter from Jim Cooper, the President of the Arkansas Health Care Association, in which he speaks out against the Club for Growth’s take on Huckabee and taxes.
From the Club of Growth:
Governor Huckabee touts himself as an economic conservative, writing in his biography that he “pushed through the Arkansas legislature the first major, broad-based tax cuts in state history” and “led efforts to establish a Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights” early on as governor (Arkansas Times 09/22/05), but he only offers a small piece of the picture. It is true that Governor Huckabee fought for an $80 million tax cut package in 1997 that was passed by the Arkansas legislature (Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98); cut the state capital gains tax in 1999 (The Commercial Appeal 02/29/99); and passed the Property Taxpayers’ Bill of Rights in the same year, limiting the increase in property taxes to 10% a year for individuals and 5% per taxing unit (AP 03/16/99). However, his record over the rest of his ten-year tenure tells a starkly different story.
-Immediately upon taking office, Governor Huckabee signed a sales tax hike in 1996 to fund the Games and Fishing Commission and the Department of Parks and Tourism (Cato Policy Analysis No. 315, 09/03/98).
-He supported an internet sales tax in 2001 (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07).
-He publicly opposed the repeal of a sales tax on groceries and medicine in 2002 (Arkansas News Bureau 08/30/02).
-He signed bills raising taxes on gasoline (1999), cigarettes (2003) (Americans for Tax Reform 01/07/07), and a $5.25 per day bed-tax on private nursing home patients in 2001 (Arkansas New Bureau 03/01/01).
-He proposed another sales take hike in 2002 to fund education improvements (Arkansas News Bureau 12/05/02).
-He opposed a congressional measure to ban internet taxes in 2003 (Arkansas News Bureau 11/21/03).
-In 2004, he allowed a 17% sales tax increase to become law (The Gurdon Times 03/02/04).By the end of his ten-year tenure, Governor Huckabee was responsible for a 37% higher sales tax in Arkansas, 16% higher motor fuel taxes, and 103% higher cigarette taxes according to Americans for Tax Reform (01/07/07), garnering a lifetime grade of D from the free-market Cato Institute. While he is on record supporting making the Bush tax cuts permanent, he joined Democrats in criticizing the Republican Party for tilting its tax policies “toward the people at the top end of the economic scale” (Washington Examiner 09/13/06), even though objective evidence demonstrates that the Bush tax cuts have actually shifted the tax burden to higher income taxpayers.
Finally, Governor Huckabee opposed further tax cuts at a 2005 gathering of Iowa conservatives (AP 09/17/05). On January 28, 2007, Governor Huckabee refused to pledge not to raise taxes if elected President, first on Meet the Press and then at the National Review Conservative Summit. The evidence suggests that his commitment to protecting taxpayers evidenced in his early gubernatorial years may be a thing of the past.
Here is Cooper’s retort:
With all due respect to my fellow fiscal conservative advocates, as President of the Arkansas Health Care Association during Governor Huckabee’s tenure, I wish to dispel criticisms of the provider tax that was initiated for the Arkansas nursing home program.
Governor Huckabee’s position should be considered as one that saved Arkansans from huge tax increases. Let me put the situation in perspective.
For over 20 years prior to the governor’s tenure, Arkansas paid for its nursing home program through a “negotiated” illegal class rate. The hammer was coming down on the entire program. Federal law requires a nexus between the rate and the cost of the care. Arkansas’ state government is required to operate with a balanced budget. For over 20 years the nursing home program survived with minuscule rate increases based largely on how much money could be negotiated in the final state budget. To compound the problem our class rate for nursing home care had fallen to an average of less than $64.00 per patient day which created a short fall of over $12.00 per patient day. Governor Huckabee’s administration, legislators, consumer advocates, and nursing home owners all agreed that care was sub-par, jeopardizing the entire Medicaid program.
Most suggested the old tax and spend philosophy. Raise income or sales taxes to fix the problem. Growth was not an option because there is a finite number of nursing homes and nursing home patients. A soft drink tax had been passed a few years before to prop up the Medicaid program.
The industry and key legislators brought the provider tax concept forth. It was agreed on by the Huckabee administration only after assurances were made for accountability and an entirely new payment methodology was implemented. The tax was placed on total receipts for nursing homes. I could explain in greater detail if asked.
Out of 228 nursing homes in Arkansas only 3 are private pay (that is, they refuse to admit patients who receive federal or state subsidies). These homes were opposed to the provider tax because Federal Law requires all providers be taxed the same. A wide-ranging group of legislators and Governor Huckabee agreed to raise additional Medicaid dollars with the provider tax increasing the matching 3 to 1 federal dollars for nursing homes. Without this solution we would have been faced with huge tax increases for the entire state of Arkansas or the entire Medicaid program in Arkansas could have been decertified.
In other Huckabee news, bloggers were positive on his Veteran’s Bill of Rights:
1. The right to a mandatory rather than a discretionary mechanism for funding veterans’ health care, to eliminate year-to-year uncertainty that the funds they need will be there for them
2. The right to obtain full and clear explanation of all benefits and comprehensive assistance in obtaining those benefits.
3. The right to have a claim processed within six months.
4. The right to the fullest possible accounting of the fate of POW/MIAs and the right to be designated as POW/MIA.
5. The right to access state-of-the-art treatment facilities for traumatic brain injuries.
6. The right of National Guard and Reserve personnel called to active service to receive the same benefits as active duty veterans.
7. The right of disabled veterans to receive both their military retirement and VA compensation.
8. The right of wounded Reserve troops to be treated like their active duty counterparts until their claims have been processed.
9. The right of wounded veterans and those who have served in combat theaters to a comprehensive GI bill that provides full tuition, books, fees, and living expenses at any institution to which the veteran is accepted.
I like… can’t we do better than a promise to process claims in less than six months? Talk about a bureaucratic nightmare!
Finally, a Huck humor moment:
Borrowing a page from Mr. Giuliani’s own playbook, Mr. Huckabee (whose humor is well-known on the campaign trail) interrupted his speech for a moment to take a cell phone call.
“Hello. No, I’m sorry the mayor is not here today, Judith. You have the wrong number.”
