Tax Policies
The most important aspect of tax policy is to recognize that there is a direct relationship between revenue generated by taxes and spending. Republican leaders spend a great deal of their time arguing over what taxes should be cut and which tax cuts are better. In the end, most tax cuts are exemptions for large companies and special interest groups. While continuing to adopt special interest tax exemptions that have reduced state revenue by hundreds of millions of dollars, the legislative leadership continues to fail to fund the state contribution to local school systems required by the existing education formulas. These funding failures at the state level mean more taxes at the local level to fund our schools, hospitals and transportation needs. We need a state tax policy that is frugal and fair to all citizens, but passing laws and then passing the funding burden on to local governments is neither.