from the Democratic National
Committee rec'd Feb. 11, 2011
Mitch
Daniels at CPAC: Do as I say, not as I do
If offering pithy catch phrases while ignoring one's record was an
Olympic team sport, Mitch Daniels and his colleagues who have spoken at
CPAC so far would have won Gold, Silver and Bronze. Tonight, the
man
who was OMB Director when the previous Administration began to fritter
away the Clinton budget surplus and explode the national debt and
deficit said: we should cut taxes, but he's raised them in Indiana;
talked about the debt as a "Red Menace" but didn't succeed at
doing
anything about it when he was in cahrge of the federal budget and
bragged about reform efforts in Indiana which have proved disastrous
for the state.
RHETORIC: DANIELS CALLED FOR CUTTING
TAXES
“It's time we had, in Bill Simon's words "a tax system that looks like
someone designed it on purpose." And the purpose should be
private
growth. So lower and flatter, and completely flat is best.
Tax
compensation but not the savings and investment without which the
economy cannot boom.” [Daniels CPAC Speech]
REALITY: DANIELS PROMISED NO NEW TAXES
AS GOVERNOR, BUT RAISED A NUMBER OF TAXES, REFUSED TO SIGN TAXPAYER
PROTECTION PLEDGE
Daniels Said He Would Veto New Taxes.
As a new Governor, Daniels said,
“I will veto any attempt to raise general taxes on our citizens, and
any attempt to extend for even one day the one temporary measure I
reluctantly propose tonight.” [2005 State of the State, 1/18/05]
Daniels Refused To Sign The Taxpayer
Protection Pledge In 2004 And He
Raised A Number Of Taxes During His Tenure As Governor. “Daniels
is no
stranger to disagreements with allies of the conservative movement. As
a candidate for governor in 2004, Daniels refused to sign the Grover
Norquist-led Americans for Tax Reform Taxpayer Protection Pledge. And
he has raised a number of taxes during his tenure as governor,
including a temporary 1% surcharge for all taxpayers with more than
$100,000 in income (but unlike President Obama’s ‘temporary’ spending
increases, Daniels’ temporary tax surcharge only lasted one year, just
as advertised).” [Human Events, 7/27/10]
RHETORIC: DANIELS TOUTED HIS RECORD OF
CUTTING PROPERTY TAXES
“So when we cut property taxes, to the lowest level in America, we left
flexibility for localities to raise them, but only by securing the
permission of their taxpayers, voting in referendum.” [Daniels CPAC
Speech]
REALITY: DANIELS CUT PROPERTY TAXES,
THEN LOCALITIES FACED FISCAL DISASTER BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF FUNDS
Experts Predict That Property Taxes In
Indiana Will Rise, Especially
For Rural Homeowners, As State-Funded Homestead Credits Expire.
“State-funded homestead credits will go away next year, and several tax
experts predict that property tax bills will rise, especially for rural
homeowners who are unlikely to benefit from recently enacted tax caps.
The homestead credit uses a complex formula to reduce the property tax
bill for owner-occupied primary residences. That reduction is in
addition to the standard $45,000 homestead deduction and other
supplemental deductions that reduce the portion of a home's value used
to calculate property taxes…Despite the expected increase in tax bills,
DeBoer has predicted that homeowners will still pay less in 2011 than
they did in 2007 – before the state property tax overhaul began. By
next year, Wells County homeowners will see tax bills that are about 30
percent less than in 2007. That's in line with what Gov. Mitch
Daniels
proposed when he called for significant property tax reforms in late
2007, said Darren Bates, a consultant to Wells and other Indiana
counties. In comparison, this year Wells County homeowners paid half
the taxes that they paid in 2007, according to tax records.” [The
Journal-Gazette, 9/5/10]
Gary Post-Tribune: The Property Tax
Caps Supported By Mitch Daniels
Will Likely Cause Most Cities To “Turn To User Fees To Raise Cash.”
“Indiana municipal governments are bracing for the inevitable in
November, when voters can officially restrain the spending of their
local governments by placing tax caps in the state constitution. Voters
will cast ballots on whether property taxes should be limited to 1
percent of homes' assessed value, 2 percent on farm and rental
properties, and 3 percent on business property. The referendum's
backers gained momentum last week when the Indiana Farm Bureau and the
Indiana Chamber of Commerce gave up efforts to defeat it. The two
groups opposed it because they considered it unfair to treat commercial
and residential property differently. Urban areas like Gary, with high
tax rates, are facing a tougher time. The lack of tax revenue and low
tax collections are making it difficult for the city to provide basic
services and improve the city's infrastructure. While they try to
operate more efficiently, the hunch is most cities will turn to user
fees to raise cash. Voters should be aware of that likelihood on Nov.
2.” [Post Tribune, 9/10/10]
Daniels Supported Allowing A City
Failing Because Of His Property Tax
Caps To Be Placed Into Receivership. “Daniels also said a city
that
runs out of money because of Indiana's new property tax caps could be
placed into receivership, but they should first consider local mergers.
‘That's the sort of thing that taxing units under pressure ought to be
looking at, and I suppose at some point a receiver could do it for
them,’ Daniels said in a teleconference Wednesday with reporters.” [AP,
12/17/09]
RHETORIC: DANIELS BRAGGED ABOUT HIS
WELFARE PRIVATIZATION
“When they attack us for our social welfare reforms, we will say that
the true enemies of Social Security and Medicare are those who defend
an imploding status quo, and the arithmetic backs us up.” [Daniels CPAC
Speech]
REALITY: DANIELS’ PRIVATIZATION OF
WELFARE PROVED DISASTROUS
Daniels Privatized Welfare in a $1.16
Million Contract. In December
2006, according to the Associated Press, “Gov. Mitch Daniels on
Wednesday signed a $1.16 billion contract to pay an IBM Corp.-led team
to help run programs for food stamps, Medicaid and other assistance for
the needy, saying the move would improve the system and was ‘clearly in
the public interest.’” [Associated Press, 12/27/06]
The Economist: Daniels’ Attempt To
Privatize The State Welfare System
“An Unqualified Disaster” And “Eventually He Cancelled The Contract.”
“Not
everything went smoothly (In Daniels’ administration). The road
lease and time change were, at first, enormously unpopular. He
privatised the state’s welfare system, an unqualified
disaster—eventually he cancelled the contract.” [The Economist, 8/19/10]
Newsweek: “Hoosiers Who Missed Welfare
Appointments Because They Were
Hospitalized With Terminal Cancer Lost Their Medicaid Benefits” Because
Daniels Had Outsourced The Welfare Program To IBM. “His
(Daniels’) 2007
decision to outsource the state’s welfare enrollment program to IBM for
$1.3 billion and replace in-person facilities with call centers was a
painful reminder of the limits of privatization; Hoosiers who missed
welfare appointments because they were hospitalized with terminal
cancer lost their Medicaid benefits. (To his credit, Daniels admitted
his mistake, nixed the deal, and sued IBM.)” [Newsweek, 9/10/10]
State, IBM File Lawsuits Against Each
Other Over Welfare Privatization.
“Six months after Gov. Mitch Daniels dissolved their partnership,
Indiana's human services agency and the company it hired to modernize
how welfare applications are processed will ask the courts to solve
their financial dispute. Indiana is suing IBM Corp., saying the Armonk,
N.Y.-based company fell short of expectations and created a system so
faulty that an Evansville woman who was dying of cancer could not
obtain the Medicaid benefits for which she was qualified. IBM is
answering with a lawsuit of its own, complaining the state still owes
more than $50 million even though Daniels canceled the 10-year, $1.37
billion contract before completing the deal's third year. Both suits
were filed Thursday morning in Marion County. [Evansville Courier &
Press, 5/14/10]