Cato: Top-Rated Governors Are All Republican The Cato Institute has released its latest Fiscal Policy Report Card on Americas Governors, showing that all top-rated governors are Republican — and all their lowest-rated counterparts are Democrats. The report examines state budget actions from January 2012 to August 2014 and uses seven variables to grade the governors on their taxing and spending records. Some governors have pursued reforms to reduce tax burdens on families and make their states more competitive. Other governors have used rising revenues to expand programs, the report states. Governors receiving an A are those who cut taxes and spending the most, while governors receiving an F raised taxes and spending the most. Four Republican governors received an A grade. Pat McCrory of North Carolina signed a major tax reform bill last year, replacing three individual income tax rates with a single lower rate. He also cut the corporate tax rate, repealed the estate tax, approved further tax cuts in 2014, and has kept spending under tight control. Sam Brownback of Kansas signed a law cutting the top tax rate from 6.45 to 4.9 percent, reduced taxes on small businesses, and increased the standard deduction, while overseeing only small increases in spending. Paul LePage of Maine engineered major income tax cuts in 2011 and has supported further tax and spending reforms since then. Government employment has decreased and LePage signed into law cost-cutting reforms to welfare programs. Mike Pence of Indiana signed a 2013 tax package that cut the individual income tax rate, and repealed the states inheritance tax. He has also approved cuts to the corporate income tax rate and to business property taxes. Twelve Republican governors deserve a B grade, as do three Democrats, according to Nicole Kaeding, a budget analyst, and Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the Cato Institute, a public policy research foundation. Seven Republicans earned a C grade, as did one Democrat, while five Republicans and eight Democrats got a D. At the bottom of the grading scale, eight Democrats earned an F grade. (Two states were not included in the report.) Jerry Brown of California received the lowest rating of any governor in the report. Cato noted that he pushed numerous large tax increases, backing a plan to increase tax revenues by $6 billion a year and raising the top individual income tax rate to 13.3 percent. Brown also proposed spending increases averaging 6.8 percent annually over the last three years, more than twice the national average, and has supported a boondoggle high-speed rail system, according to Cato. John Hickenlooper of Colorado also earned an F. General fund spending in the state has soared from $7.2 billion in 2012 to $9.2 billion in 2015. State government employment has increased significantly since he came into office. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts increased taxes on cigarettes and gasoline last year, and raised sales taxes. This year he has proposed higher taxes on corporations. Other Democratic governors with an F grade are Pat Quinn of Illinois, Jay Inslee of Washington, Jack Markell of Delaware, John Kitzhaber of Oregon, and Mark Dayton of Minnesota.
Posted on: Mon, 13 Oct 2014 11:06:43 +0000
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