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The Economy
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Posted: Saturday, October 31, 2015 at 7:07 PM EST - Item ID: 82
As is everything, Huckabee's credibility on tax cutting and tax reform is debatable. As governor, he raised taxes. Huckabee's tax record is an unattractive mix. He deserves credit for an $80 million tax cut in 1997 and reductions in capital-gains taxes and property-tax-hike limits in 1997. Conversely, he signed higher gas taxes (up 16 percent), sales taxes (up 37 percent), cigarette taxes (up 103 percent), a $5.25 daily tax on private nursing-home beds, and more. Overall, Huckabee's substantial tax hikes far surpassed his modest tax cuts, with the average tax burden increasing by a whopping 47% over his tenure, the Club for Growth reports. On the other hand, Huckabee raised taxes less than others. A recent column by Bob Novak excoriated Huckabee for a "47 percent increase in state tax burden." But during Huckabee's years in office, total state tax burden all 50 states combined rose by twice as much: 98 percent, increasing from $743 billion in 1993 to $1.47 trillion in 2005. In Arkansas, the income tax when he took office was 1 percent for the poorest taxpayers and 7 percent for the richest, exactly where it stood when he left the statehouse 11 years later. But, in the interim, he doubled the standard deduction and the child care credit, repealed capital gains taxes for home sales, lowered the capital gains rate, expanded the homestead exemption and set up tax-free savings accounts for medical care and college tuition. Given the rate of inflation and the fact Huckabee was governor from 1996 to 2007, a 47 percent increase in the state's tax burden seem modest.
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