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]