The Facts About Mike Huckabee:
Setting the Record Straight About a Principled
Conservative
Michael T. Griffith
2008
There has been a great deal of distortion and disinformation about Mike
Huckabee’s record as governor of
* Cut the state capital gains tax rate by 25%.
* Abolished capital gains taxes on home sales.
* Abolished the state marriage penalty tax.
* Pushed through the first broad-based tax cuts in decades, saving taxpayers
nearly $400 million.
* Indexed income tax brackets to inflation, thus protecting taxpayers from
being pushed into higher tax brackets by inflation.
* Doubled the child-care tax credit.
* Increased the tax deduction for single individuals to $2,000.
* Increased the tax deduction for married couples to $4,000.
* Banned illegal aliens from getting drivers licenses.
* Helped pass an unborn child amendment to state constitution.
* Helped pass a traditional marriage amendment to state constitution.
* Pushed through a property owners’ bill of rights that limited property tax
hikes and protected homeowners from unfair tax assessments.
* Pushed through homeschooling-friendly legislation.
* Limited the increase in the overall rate of state spending to 4.9% (AFI)--not
bad, considering that he was dealing with a Democratic legislature.
* Protected gun manufacturers from frivolous lawsuits.
* Removed restrictions on concealed handgun permit holders.
* Pushed through legislation that allowed the state to fire school boards and
school superintendents in school districts that were chronically performing
badly.
* When faced with a $227 million deficit for fiscal year 2002, refused to call
for a tax increase and instead called for a massive cut in state spending.
Yes, Huckabee did raise taxes overall, but he raised them for valid
reasons, i.e., to pay for badly needed improvements to state highways and the
state park system, and to hire more teachers (the state's population increased
substantially during his tenure).
Michael Medved has noted the following about Huckabee's fiscal record:
Meanwhile, it’s also worth a few lines here to defend the
Arkansan from the claim that he’s a secret “big government liberal” or, in the
phrase of the Club for Growth, “Tax Hike Mike.”
According to figures from the non-partisan Tax Foundation
(based on data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, Department of Commerce),
Huckabee’s term as governor (1996-2007) led to a modest increase in the overall
State-Local tax burden for Arkansas: from 10.1% in the year he became governor
to 11.1% the last year he served. In terms of overall tax burden (state-local-federal)
Mitt Romney, on the other hand, saw sharper increases in
taxes during his single gubernatorial term (2003 to 2007) in
These numbers don’t prove that Huckabee was a great
governor, or that Romney was a poor governor: actually, both men count as
exemplary public servants and authentic conservatives (and both of them have
taken Grover Norquist’s “No New Taxes” Pledge—in contrast to their rivals
Giuliani, Thompson and McCain, who have refused to do so). Both candidates
deserve respect for doing a solid job in handling state legislatures with
overwhelming Democratic majorities and scoring some notable achievements as
governor (though both states flipped to Democratic control in 2006).
("What's Behind the Huckabee Surge?", http://www.townhall.com/blog/g/c6692253-551a-45e4-ba9f-37e740fe9411)
Political consultant and former White House advisor Dick Morris agrees that
on balance Huckabee’s fiscal record is conservative:
As his political
consultant in the early '90s and as one who has been following
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
Most
impressively, when he had to pass an income tax surcharge amid the drop in
revenues after Sept. 11, 2001, he repealed it three years later when he didn't
need it any longer.
He raised the
sales tax one cent in 11 years and did that only after the courts ordered him
to do so. (He also got voter approval for a one-eighth cent hike for parks and
recreation.)
He wants to
repeal the income tax, abolish the IRS, and institute a "fair tax" based
on consumption, and he opposes any tax increase for Social Security. (http://www.newsmax.com/morris/conservative_huckabee/2007/11/28/52780.html)
Another way to answer the attack that Huckabee raised taxes overall is to
say the following: Suppose there was a man that was called to be the president
of a company. The company was $200 million in debt and his companies’ assets in
equipment were one billion dollars less than his fifty other competitors. He
decided to borrow $505.1 million to turn his company around. After ten years he
was able to pay back $378 million on his investment loan. In addition, during
the ten years he added one billion dollars in new equipment and improvements to
his company. The most amazing accomplishment was that he left $844 million in
cash in the operating account at the company. Now, would anyone say this man
didn't do an outstanding job managing the company? Of course not. Well, this is
essentially what Mike Huckabee did as governor of the state of
In addition, during the 2007-2008 Republican primary, Huckabee signed the
Americans for Tax Reform's Presidential Taxpayer Protection Pledge, which
states he will "oppose any and all efforts to increase the marginal income
tax rates for individuals and/or businesses . . . and oppose any net reduction
or elimination of deductions and credits, unless matched dollar for dollar by
further reducing tax rates."
Huckabee supports the Fair Tax plan, which would be a significant
improvement over our current tax system and would provide a great boost to our
economy:
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer
http://www.fairtax.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_main
During the GOP primary, Huckabee also
signed the very tough Numbers USA pledge to secure the border and to
oppose granting amnesty to illegal immigrants. Numbers USA gives Huckabee very
solid ratings overall on his positions on illegal immigration and border
security:
http://www.betterimmigration.com/candidates/2006/prez2008.html
Some critics have made much of the fact that Huckabee opposed a voucher
plan in
Ann Coulter's comments are based on a response I made
during a radio call-in show in which a caller asked what I thought about the
Supreme Court ruling on
I am in agreement with the dissent by Justices Scalia,
Rehnquist, and Thomas:
“[The ruling] dismantles the structure of constitutional
law that has permitted a distinction to be made between heterosexual and
homosexual unions, insofar as formal recognition in marriage is concerned. If
moral disapprobation of homosexual conduct is 'no legitimate state interest'
for purposes of proscribing that conduct, . . what justification could there
possibly be for denying the benefits of marriage to homosexual couples exercising
'the liberty protected by the Constitution'?”
Furthermore, As Justice Thomas said, we might disagree
with the wisdom of a law, but that is the province of the Legislature, not
unelected judges. No such activist justices will be appointed as long as I am
President.
I wish Ms. Coulter had contacted me or my campaign to
discuss my position in detail before writing her column. I would have
appreciated the opportunity to clarify this matter. (http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=TruthSquad.Coulter)
Below are some good links on Huckabee's conservative credentials:
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2007/11/huckabee_is_a_fiscal_c...
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/12/31/clarification-on-huckabee-...
http://www.rightwingnews.com/interviews/huckabee.php
http://www.mikehuckabee.com/?FuseAction=Issues.View&Issue_id=18
http://rightsmart.blogspot.com/2007/11/truthing-about-taxes-and-huckabee...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/02/MNOBTMNEV.DT...
http://makinghome.blogspot.com/2007/12/huckabee-hit-pieces-check-facts.h...
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=59521
http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/chucknorrisforhuckabee.htm
Mike
Let Freedom Ring website
http://ourworld.cs.com/mikegriffith1/id47.htm