Tax Policies
The most important aspect of tax policy is to recognize that there is a direct relationship between revenue generated by taxes and spending. This past legislative session, the Republican leaders spent a great deal of their time arguing over what taxes should be cut and whose tax cuts were better. In the end, the only tax cuts were exemptions for insurance companies and other special interest groups. While proposing tax cuts that would have reduced state revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars, the legislative leadership failed to fund an adequate trauma care system, failed to fund much needed transportation improvements and for the sixth straight year failed to fully fund the state contribution to local school systems required by the existing education formulas. These funding failures at the state level mean more taxes at the local level to fund our schools, hospitals and transportation needs. We need a state tax policy that is frugal and fair to all citizens, but passing laws and then passing the funding burden on to local governments is neither.