Taxes Not The Only Solution For New Programs

Arkansas Rep. Duncan Baird (R- Lowell, AR, Dist 95) responds below to an article by George Arnold, the opinion editor of the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette's northwest edition. Arnold used his editorial position to evidenced his love of big government, more taxes, and distain for anyone who opposses them or Governor Beebe. Obviously a committed liberal Democrat no matter what he may otherwise aregue. Arnold resorted to praising anyone in favor of the tobacco tax while resorting to name calling, ("backward-looking," "incapable," "votes are inexplicable," "backbenchers"), of those who opposed the tax.

by Rep Duncan Baird: George Arnold's recent column, "A Crucial Vote," was less than even-handed in his discussion of the recent tobacco tax vote. Arnold calls those who voted for tax increases "votes of courage ... in favor of their constituents' best interests." He is not so complimentary to those of us who voted for smaller government and lower taxes, describing their votes as "inexplicable" and "doing merely what their party expects," even saying that some legislative advocates for smaller budgets are "backward-looking" and "incapable" of change.

Perhaps Arnold thought that his opinions were so obviously correct that there was little reason to provide arguments or evidence for them. But I do not find his approach-empty praise for those who share his views, and insults and expletives for those who do not-especially convincing.

Arnold is simply wrong to say that revenues from the tax will fund a Fayetteville campus for the state medical school. The legislation that passed the House-without a vote to spare-merely sends additional revenue to the state treasury, without directing spending to any particular program.

It is an uncontroversial fact of state law that these tax decisions and spending decisions are entirely separate from one another.

Although I support a Fayetteville extension of our medical school campus, it is simply wrong to argue-as Arnold does-that higher taxes are the only way to fund it. The cost of this extension is about three million dollars, or 1 percent of 1 percent of our state budget. Arnold's argument that it is simply impossible to redirect a microscopic fraction (one ten-thousandth) of the budget to a worthy cause, such as a new extension of our state's medical school, is not only wrong as a matter of fact.

It is also morally wrong to maintain that the only way to deal with new and legitimate government expenses is to continually raise taxes. There is a better way: set priorities, make choices, and ultimately decide that some programs are more worthy of taxpayer funding than others.

I understand that the mindset in Washington is that increasing the size and cost of government will create jobs, put money in the bank, and help us all lose weight. But especially in recessionary times, I believe that tax increases that slow down the economy are a far inferior alternative to setting state budget priorities so as to redirect public spending to its highest and best use.

Arnold's suggestion that I have "failed" in my support of the medical school is not a serious argument. His rhetorical tactic is the same one that was used throughout the tax debate by advocates of ever-expanding government budgets, when legislators were told that the only way to fund all sorts of worthwhile programs was to choose higher taxes. These statements simply are not true, and the prevalence of such beliefs is the reason that government budgets and taxpayer obligations inevitably and inexorably increase.

If the tax had not passed, I am confident that the legislature would have found some other way of paying for a new medical school. It is a great pity that we have so many public officials, and not a few journalists, who believe that the only way government can ever establish a new program is to pile it onto our existing crop of unchanged old ones.

Notes: Follow Duncan Baird on Twitter. The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette printed Rep. Duncan Baird's reponse.

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