(Video Above: Governor Robert Bentley (R) addresses the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce)
ANNISTON, Ala. — In a speech to the Calhoun County Chamber of Commerce last week, Governor Robert Bentley argued his $541 million tax increase plan is a conservative proposal, and pointed to many conservatives’ favorite president, Ronald Reagan, as evidence.
“Ronald Reagan, the icon of conservatism, raised taxes because he was a conservative,” Bentley said. “There is nothing more conservative than paying your debts and getting your budgets in order. That’s conservative.”
President Reagan did increase some taxes during his time in the Oval Office. However, rather than raising specific tax rates, his government revenue measures were mainly crafted to make it tougher to evade taxes by reducing tax breaks and closing loopholes.
Reagan is also well known for cutting the top marginal income tax rate from 70 percent to 28 percent, and decreasing the overall tax burden on businesses and individuals during his presidency.
“Reagan was certainly a tax cutter legislatively, emotionally and ideologically. But for a variety of political reasons, it was hard for him to ignore the cost of his tax cuts,” tax historian Joseph Thorndike told CNN. Two bills passed in 1982 and 1984 together “constituted the biggest tax increase ever enacted during peacetime,” he argued.
During his speech in Anniston, Governor Bentley also explained the “No New Taxes” advertisements he ran during the 2014 campaign were referring to his first term, and were not a promise for his next term.
“When I said ‘no new taxes,’ that’s exactly right,” Bentley said. “We had no new taxes in the first four years.”
He went on to dismiss the Americans for Tax Reform “no new taxes” pledge he, and many other Republicans, signed in the past, arguing voters want him to solve problems rather than be tied to a past pledge.
“There’s nothing wrong with looking at what your problems are and trying to solve those problems,” he said. “Leaders do that. Politicians don’t do that. Politicians just say, you know, I signed a pledge with Grover Norquist, whoever that guy is.”
Bentley then detailed the ways agencies have told him they will cope with the cuts proposed by a budget without tax increases to fill the estimated $250+ million hole in the General Fund budget. Cuts could mean closing State Trooper posts, National Guard armories, and decreasing Department of Mental Health and Department of Corrections services, he said.
With just a few weeks left, the legislature has yet to vote on any of the governor’s proposed tax increases. Last week a House committee approved a proposal that would not levy any new taxes, instead relying on cuts to achieve the constitutionally-mandated balanced budget. The attention is now on the Senate, where Sen. Del Marsh’s gambling package is front and center.
Governor Bentley has shot down both the House and Senate proposals, calling the House’s budget cuts “unworkable,” and saying he won’t accept potential gambling funds in lieu of new tax revenues.
The governor has promised to call the legislature back for special sessions this summer until his $541 million tax increases are passed.
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— Elizabeth BeShears (@LizEBeesh) January 21, 2015
