Jim Fossel: We don’t need more funds, we don’t need more tax

Rep. Micky Carmichael is, theoretically, a Republican – at least, that’s what he calls himself.

Apparently, though, he’s a different kind of Republican, one who wants to raise taxes when the state is awash in extra money. You see, he sponsored a bill – one of the dreaded concept drafts that mainly exists to hide its purpose from the public – that would raise taxes. Now, perhaps that’s not what he wanted the bill to be when he introduced it; because it didn’t have specific language, we’ll never know. Sure, he may have preferred a Republican version that didn’t raise taxes, but he went along with the Democrats’ version that did anyway.

This is so utterly and completely foolish that it’s mind-boggling. It’s mind-boggling that any legislator in Augusta, from either party, would want to raise taxes when we have a budget surplus. It’s mind-boggling that any Republican, supposedly the party of fiscal responsibility, would go along with that scheme. It’s mind-boggling that a legislator would promise to never raise taxes, then go ahead and not just vote for, but proudly sponsor, a bill that does exactly that.

It should be basic, simple logic that taxes are not raised unless the state needs the money.

That is, after all, the purpose of taxation: to raise the funds that government needs to do its job. If the government is having trouble paying its bills, you raise taxes to make up for the shortfall. When you have extra money, you either set it aside for future emergencies, or you cut taxes. That’s basic arithmetic that any child ought to be able to understand. Too many of our legislators don’t seem to get it. The explanation is that they’re disregarding that simple logic in order to use taxation for social purposes, to remake society as they desire.

If that sounds nefarious, it’s because it is, and it’s something that Republicans have historically opposed – if they don’t, they’re no better than Democrats.

It’s unclear why Republicans felt a need to negotiate with Democrats on this issue at all. Yes, in theory, they got something out of it: tax relief for working-class Maine families. The question, though, is at what cost? They’ve colluded with Democrats to almost completely undo one of Paul LePage’s greatest accomplishments: simplifying the Maine income tax brackets. This isn’t just a long-standing cornerstone of conservatism, it’s commonsense public policy. Making the income tax code – and taxes in general – simpler should be everyone’s shared goal, regardless of their ideology. The only reason to oppose that is if a complex tax code benefits you or the special interests who fund your reelection.

If anything, Maine should be striving towards simplifying the state income tax even more, moving towards one bracket – a flat tax. That’s long been a goal of fiscal conservatives, and it’s a good one. While it’s often derided as a tax cut for the rich, they’ll still end up paying more than everyone else simply because they make more – especially if we eliminate special tax breaks as well.

By going along with Democrats on this, the few Maine Republicans who voted for it have abandoned fiscal conservatism and embraced liberal social engineering policies. Rather than embracing bipartisan common sense, they’ve chosen to lend bipartisan credence to nonsense. It’s especially ridiculous because there was no need for additional funding to pay for the tax cut – they could have simply insisted on tax relief on its own. Instead, they’ve handed Democrats a potentially major win in an election year, letting them claim credit for a tax cut.

Another infuriating aspect to this terrible bill is that Rep. Carmichael signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, sponsored by Grover Norquists’ Americans for Tax Reform group. The pledge isn’t complicated: It’s a promise that you will never, under any circumstances, vote to raise taxes. It doesn’t have an expiration date; even if he may have forgotten about it, he’s still bound by it. He doesn’t even get a pass if he’s not running for reelection – that doesn’t negate it.

Hopefully Gov. Janet Mills vetoes the bill, but given that she’s already broken her promise not to raise taxes, so we can’t rely on that. Instead, it’s up to us as voters to hold politicians who break their promises accountable, remembering that, if they don’t honor their word, they can’t be trusted on anything. If we started doing that more consistently, we might get back to having real leadership in this state.

Jim Fossel, a conservative activist from Gardiner, worked for Sen. Susan Collins. He can be contacted at:
jwfossel@gmail.com
Twitter: @jimfossel