WHO SAID – I DO NOT INTEND TO RAISE ANY TAXES

During a 2014 debate, candidate ASA HUTCHINSON was asked about taxes.

QUESTION: “What taxes do you hope to raise, reduce, or eliminate as governor?

ASA: “I do not intend to raise any taxes during my term as governor.”

(You can watch his full response below.  But, it is the first sentence you need to listen to over and over.)

 

Asa didn’t say he would cut some taxes and raise some. He said – I do not intend to raise ANY taxes.

But, here are Asa’s tax increases, new taxes, and efforts to pass more taxes during 2017.

  • Increased the sales tax on candy;
  • Increased the sales tax on soft drinks;
  • Added a new sales tax on digital downloads (such as your purchases of digital movies, music, ebooks, and software);
  • Doubled the special tax on new tires;
  • Added a new special tax on mounting used tires;
  • Imposed income tax on payments of unemployment compensation;
  • TRIED to tax YOU on the items you purchase from out-of-state sellers who have no nexus to the state (called Internet Sales Tax); and
  • TRIED to increase the taxes on gasoline and diesel fuel; and
  • Got his nephew, Senator Jim Hendren, to sponsor and chair a tax task force that is spending much of its time looking for ways to increase tax revenue, even the possibility of putting the full sales tax back on groceries.

What a long list for someone, who said he didn’t intend on raising ANY taxes.

New Campaign Year – More Promises

This year Asa has an opponent in the Republican Primary, Jan Morgan, and he is again talking about taxes:

  • Asa is emphasizing he passed a tax break for low income taxpayers and a tax break for those few veterans who get military retirement. (BTW – Asa has yet to emphasize the tax break he passed for soft drink manufacturers, which he insisted be attached to the military retirement bill.)
  • Asa is making a new promise – if you will reelect him, in 2019 he will propose legislation to cut Arkansas’ top income tax rate from 6.9 percent to 6 percent. The proposed cut would not be effective until 2020. (BTW -Asa hasn’t explained why he wants to wait until 2019 (after the election) to pass his promised income tax relief when he could have already proposed and passed it in the special legislative session he called back in March.)

BUT, why bother analyzing Asa’s campaign promises when they mean so little?

YOU BELIEVED CANDIDATE ASA IN 2014.
WILL YOU BELIEVE HIM AGAIN IN 2018?

You can ignore the election and watch as more taxes are increased or imposed.