Monday, February 15, 2010

Republican Bribery: Refunds and Tax Cuts. When Will We Ever Learn?

A few years back, Wisconsin state Republicans decided that any excess tax revenue had to be returned to all hard working "voters," instead of saved and put away in a rainy day fund. Taxpayers were happy and re-elected these fiscal conservatives. But when it rained and the state economy couldn't keep up with inflation, schools closed down and public roads and safety nets disappeared. Lesson learned? Not a chance.

A few years back Republicans convinced everyone that roads repaired themselves and the automatically indexed state gas tax, that held revenues in line with the number of gallons sold, had to be repealed and left up to the legislature. Big decisions like gasoline tax hikes had to be voted on in the light of day, for all taxpayers to see, hikes they knew would never happen again. After all, almost every Republican in the state pledged to a local blogger never to raise taxes while still in elected office (true).

Guess what happened? WPT's Here and Now takes on Republicans Rep. Townsend and Gottlieb, who look blameless and clueless, who ironically voted for the devastating unintended consequences of repealing the indexed gas tax. At the time it made the Republicans look like smart, penny pinching misers. The party of short term political gain did it again.

Video is there despite black screen:

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