Republican Messaging: Fiscal/Tax Policy
It was an interesting experience to cross my own party in pointing out my perceived flaws with our illegal immigration message, and even naming certain lawmakers that I feel are doing more harm that good. It was liberating. It was fun to go against the grain. And, in a way, it rejuvenated the faith I have in my party for it to not be met with harsh criticism in the comments section.
That said, I would be a fool to think that it was welcomed in open arms by all. But to the nay-sayers who think my words did more harm that good to Republicans I direct to our opening post where Sam very eloquently stated that we’re not here to simply pass out the Republican kool-aid, but instead to help sharpen our edge by opening up a dialogue that brings both Republican accomplishments and shortfalls into light.
So in that spirit I give you the next policy area where Republicans desperately need work in messaging…
Fiscal/Tax Policy
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a hypocrite as a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings. I define a hypocrite as any Republican who is talking about fiscal conservatism and taxing policy. Their words all come from the same stock talking points…lower taxing, restraint in spending, cutting the fat out of the budget. It’s a great message, yet one that Republicans have yet to live up to.
History is on my side here. Federally, under Republican rule appropriation earmarks tripled both in the raw number of and in their collective level of spending, and our national debt doubled. Not exactly characteristics that I would use in describing fiscal conservatism.
At home in Texas, Republicans are no less guilty. I think back to a comment that Roger once posted (Roger, where have you gone?) that effectively outlined how our state spending has outpaced inflation since 1991. Instead of working to correct this wrong after coming into power in 2002, Republicans have instead elected to enjoy the fiscal sins of democrats while throwing their hands up in the air and claiming that the rise in spending prior to ‘03 wasn’t their fault. It may not be our fault, but refusing to do something about it now is perhaps a greater sin.
The 2005 state budget was so loaded down that some fiscally prudent House Members casted their no vote against it. And the 2006 budget may have held the rate of spending growth below inflation + population increases but much like President Bush’s claim that we’re going to cut the national deficit in half (not directly, but as a factor of gross national product), those are only well crafted words meant to distract from the truth…that we increased spending.
Republican failures to deliver on taxing promises are also skeletons that we keep tossing into the closet. Take for example, the TIF tax. It equated to only 500 million a year, less than 1 percent of what we spend. It was a democrat tax created for a specific purpose that hadn’t been repealed despite that purpose being met. It should have been a slam dunk of a repeal for Republicans to undertake, but it didn’t work out that way. Instead, the author of the bill, Representative Joe Straus, had to fight like a madman with both his House colleagues and Senator Ogden to retire this out-dated tax.
Congratulations go to Representative Straus for getting the TIF tax job done, but the mere fact that it took a Republican led Legislature 5 years to repeal a tax that had already outlived its purpose prior to their coming into power only amplifies my point. If it took Republicans 5 years to end that miniscule tax, which will only save me about a dollar a month, what does that say about their ability to address the bigger fiscal picture?
Now, I’m not blind to the counter Republican arguments that we already run an anemic budget, that we spend less per capita than any other state, and that we can’t reduce state spending and lower taxes while roads need to be built and public education needs to be further funded. Basically, that Republicans are doing all that can be done just to keep spending increases as modest as they already are.
That is fine. To me, that argument does have merit to it. But this is about messaging and that approach does remain counter to what Republicans preach. So either the message needs to be altered to reflect that perspective, or that perspective needs to go all together. Because the longer we say one thing on fiscal policy and do another, voters will continue to conclude that it is not us who is the fiscally responsible party, but the democrats.
And honestly, who could blame them?