Oh, Baby
Eating my Wheaties this morning, I read,
Huntsman Chief of Staff Jason Chaffetz criticized what he referred to as the "conservative resistance to the tax cut for corporate income."
"You would think a good conservative would want to cut taxes," Chaffetz complained. It marked the first time the new governor or his staff has publicly goaded legislators.
And I knew it was going to be a very long day. Part of the whip's job I learned today is to keep a bunch of fiscal conservatives from completely shutting down a budget that contains several pricey things they didn't want to fund but did in the good spirit of give-and-take that has prevailed.
Two points: One, the criticism the Legislature has received from several corners is primarily that it has not grown government programs enough this year. Two, this statement does not reflect the Gov. Huntsman I am growing to admire more and more each day. Put these two statements together, and what do you get?
The State will have a fiscally conservative budget this year (I know that's hard to swallow when we've spent so much money, but bear with me), and the Executive and Legislative branches will work this interim to figure out comprehensive tax reform (and, yes, I do realize that we can't call it "reform," if we raise the amount of total taxes paid). The key to this year's budget is that we immediately took money off the table (put it toward infrastructure expenses) before we started figuring out program budgets.
What is the significance of not plowing all the money into programs? It means that next year -- after the new administration and Legislature take a comprehensive look -- we will have more room to fund a . . . tax decrease!
On the quote, it's tough for me to be too critical. Just today, I said something to a reporter (about our flood relief fundraiser), immediately regretted it, and asked her not to print it (we'll see). The quote would not start an inter-branch fight, but it would embarrass a good (and private) representative who gave generously to the flood relief effort and would not want the kind of notoriety that would come from me enthusiastically blabbing his name to a reporter.
Huntsman Chief of Staff Jason Chaffetz criticized what he referred to as the "conservative resistance to the tax cut for corporate income."
"You would think a good conservative would want to cut taxes," Chaffetz complained. It marked the first time the new governor or his staff has publicly goaded legislators.
And I knew it was going to be a very long day. Part of the whip's job I learned today is to keep a bunch of fiscal conservatives from completely shutting down a budget that contains several pricey things they didn't want to fund but did in the good spirit of give-and-take that has prevailed.
Two points: One, the criticism the Legislature has received from several corners is primarily that it has not grown government programs enough this year. Two, this statement does not reflect the Gov. Huntsman I am growing to admire more and more each day. Put these two statements together, and what do you get?
The State will have a fiscally conservative budget this year (I know that's hard to swallow when we've spent so much money, but bear with me), and the Executive and Legislative branches will work this interim to figure out comprehensive tax reform (and, yes, I do realize that we can't call it "reform," if we raise the amount of total taxes paid). The key to this year's budget is that we immediately took money off the table (put it toward infrastructure expenses) before we started figuring out program budgets.
What is the significance of not plowing all the money into programs? It means that next year -- after the new administration and Legislature take a comprehensive look -- we will have more room to fund a . . . tax decrease!
On the quote, it's tough for me to be too critical. Just today, I said something to a reporter (about our flood relief fundraiser), immediately regretted it, and asked her not to print it (we'll see). The quote would not start an inter-branch fight, but it would embarrass a good (and private) representative who gave generously to the flood relief effort and would not want the kind of notoriety that would come from me enthusiastically blabbing his name to a reporter.
posted by steve u. at 2/24/2005
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2 Comments:
I deleted an anonymous rip -- not on me, but on someone else. I would have left it, if someone had put a name to it, but I think really pointed commentary should have an owner. To let you guage the weight of my trigger finger, I think I've only deleted one other comment on this entire site so far.
Steve, you continue to do an excellent job with your blog.
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