Hobson finds "joy and pleasure" in tax hikes
Cal Hobson, Democratic Lt. Gov. candidate and former President Pro Tempore of the State Senate, angrily denounced the tax cuts passed by the Oklahoma Legislature in a speech on the Senate floor the final day of the special session:
You’re eroding your tax base for no good purpose and you’re giving it to people that don’t need it, won’t remember it, and – I assure you Democrats – they will take their money and they will use it to beat you and help them....You don’t want to hear this, and you think it’s just a blowhard on the last day.... But unless you just hate schools, and hate good roads, and hate the fact that 600,000 of our people walk around without health insurance, and 700,000 are on Medicaid, unless you like that ... you can’t be for this kind of crap. You can’t be for the kind of giveaways of last year and again this year, and a total of $615 million.... We are pooping off the largesse given to us, just like last year.
I just happen to feel passionately, having had the joy and pleasure of raising taxes a number of times (to keep the lights on in Oklahoma), I don’t take this stuff lightly.... In the long term, maybe not next week, but in the long term you will regret what you’re doing to this tax base.
The Senator doesn't seem to understand the meaning of the term "tax base." The hope, Mr. Hobson, is that by reducing the tax rate, there will be incentives for businesses to start in, stay in, grow in, or move to Oklahoma -- an increase in economic activity that means a larger economic base upon which taxes can be levied to pay for public needs.
It's sort of refreshing to see a politician openly embrace his lust for higher taxes.
Subscribe to this blog's feed:
Cutting taxes is a start. I'm lusting for something considerably different from Cal Hobsons' lusts, though; the Fair Tax, and something similar on the state level.
I find his comments laughable, He says the democrats care about education and roads... I would hate to see what they would be like if they didnt care...
You are assuming that all of those companies lured here by lower taxes are going to pass those savings on to their employees. WRONG! Less taxes just equal more profit. Because any tax breaks that lure businesses here are not the kind of tax breaks that help the common man. What helps the common man is not having crappy roads that cause him to fix his pickup every month or affordable healthcare to get the medicine he and his kids need. If lowering tax rates were so great for spurring economic development, then where are the higher salaries, better benefits, and the like.
No, I've heard that "spur economic development crap" long enough. If we don't take those energy industry tax windfalls and pour it into infrastructure this state will continue to be nothing more than a place to get raw materials and dumb football players.